


After the Storm

by 7shinees



Category: GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Tension, Witcher AU, jaebum's a witcher, jinyoung's a sorcerer, some fluff some angst some humor and a lot of:
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-05-26 01:47:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14990117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/7shinees/pseuds/7shinees
Summary: This hunting season's been uneventful for Jaebum. But, as the summer heat comes, the witcher finds himself involved in a series of strangely intense encounters, most of which revolve around a certain titled, witty wizard.Jaebum hates wizards; they're all assholes. It's even worse when he finds them attractive.





	1. Back on the Path, pt. I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I’ve had that idea stuck in my head for a while now, and it’s high time I posted it! My boo [Meg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimson_calamity) is beta-ing for me. Big fat thanks @ them!! <333
> 
> Some basic info before you start reading:
> 
> The Witcher is a book series by A. Sapkowski, but you may have heard more about the games that followed. This fic is very loosely based on Sapkowski’s short story called “The Last Wish”, and Jaebum & Jinyoung’s characters are (just as loosely) based on the dynamic of Geralt and Yennefer from the original series. 
> 
> The crucial thing is: not knowing anything about the original series is not an issue if you want to read this fic - I made sure everyone can follow the au easily! 
> 
> Enjoy reading, loves <3

 

I.

He should have just asked for mead, he thinks when he can’t help but grimace at the watery bitterness of his beer. Might at least taste better than this.

The tavern he’s staying at doesn’t offer much of a variety, neither on the menu or when you look around to look at its patrons. There’s a group of young boys, probably from the village near the tavern, sitting and looking suspiciously as though they shouldn’t be there in the first place. A pair of merchants, seated in the darkest corner of the room, focused on their conversation only. Another group, of men who look painfully similar to those boys, just older and more rowdy. A bunch of men and women that are most probably from the few houses around the tavern. Besides an occasional round of laughter coming from the tables, everything’s calm, tranquil.

It’s a slow, uneventful evening, Jaebum thinks. Exactly what he always craves for and what he hates the most.

 

II.

He arrives to the village around noon, when children are playing on the sandy streets, merciless summer sun coloring their skin darker and darker. A few cows are grazing on meadows on the east side, sparing Jaebum no more than a few lazy, lengthy glances. The villagers stay outside of their houses, too, using the great weather as a reason to do their chores while talking and gossiping with their neighbours. Gleeful chatter comes from every direction, fills small gardens and spills easily onto the streets. Today’s wonderful weather brings more light into everyone’s eyes and voices, it seems.

It’s a simple illusion. And as one, it breaks as soon as the villagers spot Jaebum.

Faces darken, eyes acquire a new, distrustful glint. No one looks at him without this distaste prominent on their features. It’s nothing new for a witcher, obviously; witchers don’t look too approachable, to say the least. Might be the black attire they prefer to wear, or maybe the scars on their faces, deforming once humane features into grimaces.

Some say witchers look just as scary and repulsive as the monsters they kill. There has to be at least a grain of truth there.

Jaebum’s hoped for at least one contract in this neighbourhood, but with how cheerful people are - _were,_ before he arrived - he realizes quite quickly how shitty his own situation is. Seeing him seems to be what those people fear the most at the moment. Therefore… no abnormal creatures bothering this village, unfortunately.

Not that Jaebum wishes these innocent people anything bad, but he’d certainly do with a job offer after two weeks of fruitless wandering between villages and small towns of Redania.

His mare neighs and stops abruptly when a particularly carefree pair of kids runs right in front of her, chasing a ginger cat. It’s small, still a kitten, probably. Jaebum’s horse finds it terrific.

“Here, here, Nora,” the witcher shushes her, gloved hand patting the mare’s neck. Nora neighs again, thankfully with less nerves. Jaebum gives her sides a delicate jab and she resumes her walk.

Jaebum finds the mayor of the village easily - he has the biggest cottage, decorated with flowers, and the mayor himself is sitting on a painted, brightly red chair. White paint in various places of the chair resembles daisies, Jaebum realizes with a few seconds delay. He spots four cows on the back of the cottage, more than next to any other house.

The mayor’s wife looks at least ten years younger than the mayor himself. He’s also the most cunning and mistrustful out of the whole village, from what Jaebum can see. A telltale sign that Jaebum has found the right person.

However distrustful, the mayor tells him about a tavern a mere mile away from the village, mumbling about some richer young masters having a mansion somewhere in between. But no contracts for Jaebum’s kind here, the witcher hears several times before he leaves. It’s a peaceful, righteous village. No witchers needed.

Jaebum doesn’t think too much about the implications these words hold. He’s heard them too many times to care, really.

 

III.

The mansion and its owners are too busy with a family drama to throw more than a few glances and passive aggressive comments in his direction. He heads to the tavern annoyed, broke and with a grumbling stomach.

 

IV.

The tavern also has no job offers for him, but it surely does have cheap beer and food, so Jaebum takes full advantage of that. With whatever he can scrape off from the bottom of his pockets, he rents a room with a bed and a pail to wash himself in later in the night. He spent his last few nights outside, sleeping under the stars, both to save money and to cherish the good weather this summer has had so far. Still, there’s nothing as comforting as having his own small room to sleep in, even if the bed is way too sturdy and something smells a bit funny in a small drawer in the corner of the room.

His mare is resting in the tavern’s stable. She should be fine by herself, but he still checks on her, if only to show any possible thieves that he cares deeply about his horse. He makes it a point to bring his swords with himself for a better effect. Nora’s his real partner in crime, after all.

 

He can’t carry too much stuff with himself while he’s on a hunt. His mare can’t be overloaded, for once, and his possessions can easily become a tempting prey for various bandits. The only guilty pleasure that he allows himself is having at least one book with himself while he’s back on the path.

It’s almost funny how relaxing it is for him to simply read a book.

The evening comes sooner than usual with the entertainment he found for himself. He puts the book away, lays unmoving on his back for a while before getting up and deciding to get one last beer downstairs before checking on Nora - one last time! - and heading back to his room to sleep through the night.

He can swear there was no ruckus when he decided on that. There were no suspicious noises and aggressive barks as he went downstairs and got his beer to sip on it alone, too. Anything that could be deemed troublesome starts only after he’s downstairs, a bit bored, but still content.

 

It’s a peaceful, silent tavern, Jaebum thinks as he gulps down his watery beer. And the tavern proves him wrong.

Voices start to raise as he’s already halfway through his mug. Someone’s entered the tavern, black coat with a cape over his head, and Jaebum can’t really tell who that is. He doesn’t pay much attention to it.

The man in the black coat is being screamed at, something about joining the company, since there’s still room for another banqueter. Five men, in various states of intoxication, but all with red faces and muscular arms on display, coax the newcomer to their table. Jaebum observes silently from his own lonely corner.

It doesn’t get violent at first, but he can clearly see the intentions of the group in the small smirks that they exchange when the newcomer looks in a different direction. It’s written in the knuckle cracking, in fingers impatiently tapping on strong thighs under the table or mugs full of mead. It’s in how the five men aren’t even seated close to the rest of the patrons, instead claiming a secluded niche farther in.

For a few moments, Jaebum doubts his swords would come in handy, doubts there’s anything bigger awaiting in the stuffy air of the tavern. He’s still glad that he’s taken them with him, having Nora in mind only, but it seems that looking intimidating while sipping on his beer might be a good idea, too.

The rowdy group is mostly focused on their coated friend, but when hands are thrown, bandits like to get too cocky for their own good.

He waits. His mug is almost empty and he’ll soon go out to check on Nora, then head back to his room and forget about drunk ruffians and their victims.

Two things happen very fast as this thought settles in his head.

One of the men snatches the cape off the newcomer’s head in a pseudo-friendly manner, revealing a nest of dark, brown-ish hair. Jaebum cannot be sure from where he sits, but the jawline of the man seems weirdly familiar.

The ruffians all drop their smiles and snarl at the newcomer, who makes a good use of his legs and jumps from his seat and to the side, clearly attempting a smooth, immediate escape. Unfortunately for him, his companions rush to grab him even before he’s out of the niche.

In the sudden commotion, Jaebum can finally see the face of the newcomer.

His many-years’ friend, an acrobat from a circus known across all Northern countries and a notorious big mouth and a definition of being in trouble for the most absurd reasons, rises his voice as the men push him and growl profanities and accusations at him. His booming voice is something Jaebum could never get wrong.

It’s Jiaer, in a circle of grown ass men ready to beat the life out of him. Again.

It certainly feels like a deja-vu. Jaebum stands, moves his shoulders to let the swords arrange more comfortably on his back. The voices in the tavern quiet down, give room to the shouts and barks from the niche. Several patrons look Jaebum’s way when he steps away from his table and walks past the counter, right to the niche.

The ruffians don’t acknowledge him even as he stands right behind them, arms crossed and stance confident. Two of the men are taller than him, but it won’t be much of a problem if there’s a fist fight in the making. Taking five men down may be problematic even for a witcher, but he knows well what a certain acrobat can do.

They’ve been through this scenario - or similar ones - quite a few times already.

“As though you’re able to keep it in _your_ pants, dandy,” Jiaer is saying to one of the men, a blonde haired one that seems like the leader of the pack. He clenches his jaw and makes to push the acrobat, but the latter shoves his hands away roughly, frown prominent and not anxious in the slightest.

Jiaer’s always been the cockiest of Jaebum’s friends. Especially during a brawl, or a pre-brawl, like right now.

“Watch your mouth,” the blonde grits out and manages to get into Jiaer’s space, chests almost touching and gazes strong and challenging. “The baron’s daughter’s pussy isn’t even worth talking about. But stealing her jewelry? Tell us more about that, huh?”

Jiaer’s lips twist in an ugly sneer. “Oh, have you ever been near that pussy? Because I doubt you’d have anything new to tell me about it anyway. Jealous much, baby boy?”

Unsurprisingly, the pack leader’s fist meets Jiaer’s jaw right after that comment. Jiaer must have expected it, but his dodge isn’t quick enough. It’s too crowded in the niche and he’s already standing by the wall.

He lashes forward, getting into a headlock with the blonde with a steady, practised grip. The rest of the group eagerly pushes on to help their leader out in the beating. It’s Jaebum’s cue.

“Leave him,” his voice is a growl, loud enough to cut through the ruckus, but low enough to set a deeper alarm. “Step back, I said.”

Suddenly Jaebum has all six pairs of eyes on him. Jiaer might be the most surprised one of the bunch, but he uses the moment to his advantage and kicks his opponent, foot planted onto the man’s stomach and drawing a yelp and a groan out of him. It’s the right move, it seems, because the rest of the group clearly waits for the blonde’s instructions before they do anything.

“Jaebum,” Jiaer smiles broadly, though his teeth look wolfish, the grin a bit too wild. The adrenaline gets him incredibly high, Jaebum notices for the nth time in their shared history. “Nice to see you. Mind joining our little convo?”

“Get the fuck out,” he hears from the tallest guy before he replies anyhow. Jaebum spares him his ugliest glance and the roughneck recoils. He looks young despite his height.

“You heard him, dude,” the blonde says, standing straight again. He steps forward, leaving Jiaer behind.

Unwise, Jaebum thinks.

“Who the fuck are you?” Another guy wonders, looks shamelessly right into his eyes when Jaebum glares at him. “ _What_ the fuck are you?” He asks again, spotting Jaebum’s eyes.

They’re amber, cat-like, with irises sharp even in the dim light of the tavern. Unhuman.

“He’s a witcher, guys,” Jiaer supplies, always first to blabber. “Ever heard of one?”

Jiaer’s big mouth and cockiness do, in fact, come in handy sometimes.

The look on the men’s faces changes from confused to disgusted and wary, their thoughts and feelings perfectly visible and easy to read. Jaebum’s seen this transition so many times in his life that it simply ceases to phase him anyhow.

Jiaer steps forward, ready to push his way out of the tight circle they have him in, but one of the men grabs his arm and shoves him back unceremoniously. Jaebum can see how hard it is for the acrobat to not bite back and shove the guy with even more force, but, thank gods, Jiaer seems to have at least a bit of his brains still intact. He glares at the man that shoved him, but doesn’t move to reciprocate. Yet.

“And why would a monster killer care about a low life like that?” Another man speaks up, gestures at Jiaer with a scowl.

The leader-ish one, blonde haired, snorts with an ugly, cruel smile. “Because he’s another low life, dude. No wonder they stick together, they’re worth each other. A witcher and a robber, hardly a difference.”

The other men snort a short laugh. Jaebum takes another step forward, stands steadily on his left foot. His blood doesn’t boil with anger. If anything, it feels _colder._

“And those swords? Why would you need two of them?” The blonde is saying now, seemingly encouraged by the response he got from his pals. “And who the fuck has swords on his back, anyway? Do you even know how fucking stupid you look?”

Jaebum takes his time to watch them, one by one, face by face. Their smiles slip as he goes on silently, appraises, calculates theirs and his chances. They don’t even know how much of a disadvantage they have.

Finally, he sets his eyes back on the blonde one’s face. He’s frowning now, apprehension obvious in how tense his body is. Jaebum makes up his mind.

He makes a show out of raising his hand and grabbing the hilt of his steel sword firmly. The blade makes a sharp noise as he withdraws it.

The tavern, although already filled with hushed voices only as he approached the commotion, now falls into a deafening, eerie silence. Someone inhales sharply when the sword is out and raised, but no one dares to speak up.

It doesn’t get the job done completely. That tight circle around Jiaer is still there, but their resolution falters with every second and it’s so obvious Jaebum could laugh at it. He’s not in the mood for joking, though.

He doesn’t move forward. He’s close enough. Instead, he opens his mouth to speak.

“One sword is for monsters,” he says, his voice low, almost a rumble. “And the other one is for humans.”

He doesn’t have to wait too long for a response. The group, like the most typical roughnecks he’s dealt with before, starts to back off, eyes darting from the tip of his sword to his face and then focusing on the sword again.

“He’s insane,” one of them mutters, a grimace of disgust not really hiding his fear quite well. “A psycho.”

“What did you expect from a mutant,” the other growls, but yelps when Jaebum catches his eyes and tenses, ready to jump. He’s hyper aware of his surroundings, of every small breath escaping the lungs of people in the tavern.

He takes a small step back, cocks his head to show the group their way out. The hilt in his grip feels icy under his palm.

Finally, after seconds dragging too long, they’re gone, out of the main entrance and onto the main road. Jaebum looks around, sword still in his hand, and all pairs of eyes run away from his gaze, shoulders are hunched, backs are turned. Only the two merchants in the corner don’t look too bothered, simply going back to their conversation.

Jaebum pushes his sword back into the scabbard and lays his eyes on Jiaer. He’s already looking at him, lips pursed and eyes playful.

“Well, that was quite a scene you just made,” he says before laughing shortly, but with the sincerity that Jaebum always, always misses and finds both impressive and stupid. “Come here, buddy.”

His friend launches forward to wrap strong, familiar arms around him in an almost brusque embrace. Jaebum reciprocates, though - vaguely, with two friendly pats on Jiaer’s back, but he does it anyways. No matter the circumstances, it’s always good to see him.

They go back to where Jaebum was seated before the commotion started. Jiaer sits in front of him, but they barely exchange their respective greetings and first friendly jabs before they’re interrupted.

Jaebum hears the footsteps, the nervous breaths, feels the anxious stare boring into his skull. He ignores it until the owner of the tavern stands next to him and clears his throat awkwardly, fist raised to his mouth.

“Sir,” the man starts, looking pointedly at Jaebum. He sounds more confident than he looks. “You just scared my customers away… By waving your sword around.”

Jaebum doesn’t even manage to open his mouth before Jiaer straightens in his seat, his buff chest puffed out and tongue running faster than Jaebum’s thoughts.

“Excuse me, _sir,_ but this man right there,” he gestures at Jaebum, “just saved me,” he points at his chest, “from obvious harassment! Who knows what could have happen if he didn’t intervene?!”

The owner looks rather unconvinced, though Jaebum notices how his eyes dart away to glare at the door.

“Those brutes were dangerous. You should be grateful for the witcher’s help!” Jiaer adds.

“Brutes or not,” the owner grumbles, glaring at the acrobat now. “They paid for their mead when they got there. And they did mention that you’re a robber.”

“I doubt there’s any evidence,” Jaebum says as he sees that Jiaer is deeply offended by the accusation and is already flaring up and readying himself for another fight. “Those men looked like they didn’t even need a reason to get into an argument with other customers and cause troubles. I’d say you really should be grateful for my help.”

Jaebum knows very well that the glare he gives when he wants to (or when it simply happens due to his anger, for instance) is more than intimidating. It almost always elicits a shiver, makes people open their eyes wider in sudden fear and resentment. Makes them take a step back.

The owner of the White Horse tavern is no different. When Jaebum’s sharp eyes land on him, his irises cat-like and unnatural on his human face, the owner recoils slightly, coughs once and grumbles before saying,

“Well, I guess they’ve always been this village's main nuisance.”

Jiaer smiles, firstly at Jaebum, then at the owner.

“My thoughts, exactly! Glad we agree on that,” the acrobat says. He rests his elbows on the table, entwines his fingers and props his chin there. “Can we get another beer, though? This whole situation got me thirsty as ever, sir.”

The owner glowers at Jiaer, but as he looks to the side, at Jaebum, he simply nods and trudges back to the counter.

As soon as the owner is out of sight, Jiaer groans and bangs his forehead onto the tabletop. Jaebum snorts, both in amusement and disapproval.

“What did you get yourself into this time?” He asks, not really in the mood for beating around the bushes. It’s best to cut the bullshit and get straight to the point with Jiaer, anyway. Saves a lot of time.

“Did nothing wrong!” His friend whines, doesn’t look up. Jaebum doesn’t grace him with any answer, clearly not believing him. “Okay, I did _one_ thing wrong.” Jiaer relents, slowly straightening to glare and _pout_ at Jaebum. “I got caught by a certain girl’s brother on my way out of her room.”

Jaebum raises his eyebrows, waits.

“...with her jewelry in my pockets.”

The witcher chuckles, smirks with what he hopes is enough pity that it makes Jiaer suffer. In the end, getting caught red handed when you’re stealing is quite incriminating and shameful, especially if you’re as good at stealing as Jiaer is.

Frankly, Jaebum still hasn’t quite established which thing Jiaer is better at stealing: virginity or gems. Might be both, since he’s equally skilled and efficient with both of them.

It has to be said that Jiaer’s ego is big enough that any amount of pity could hurt it, really. So now, with Jaebum’s mocking smirk, the acrobat (by day, and a thief by night) makes the mugs on the table clutter loudly when his fist meets the wood.

“Stop giving me that look!” He says. He sounds a bit childish and it ruins the effect. “You cruel, cold-blooded son of a bitch. Lemme tell you, it was all perfectly planned and I’d have succeeded fully if it wasn’t for that stupid mirror.”

“A mirror ruined your perfect plan?” Jaebum chuckles, shaking his head. That’s something new.

The owner approaches then and Jiaer smiles sweetly at him, mouth shut, until their beers are on their table, left with an obnoxious clang, and the man is back at the counter.

Jaebum takes a righteous sip - he gulps down half of the jug at once - and gestures for Jiaer to continue. The latter sips on his own beer with a bit less thirst, despite what he told the owner.

“I met that girl,” Jiaer explains, voice lower so no one’s able to eavesdrop on his little sins. “Divine, I’m telling you. Her clothes were almost as fine as her beauty, and she had a golden pin in her hair. Can you imagine? A golden pin, on a girl living in such a shithole. Of course I was interested.”

Jaebum knows well how that _interest_ usually goes. Jiaer sees a chance and he takes it - quite literally - because he believes taking some of the wealth the richest has and then giving it to his poorer friends doesn’t make much difference to the young, rich girls (or, on rare occasions, boys) he hooks up with, but is a huge help for the ones benefiting from it. The hookup part is a nice, added bonus, as Jiaer likes to say. Allegedly, it’s the easiest way to get into the rich kids’ houses. It’d be hard to argue on that, honestly.

“So when I was already heading back, you know, the girl soundly sleeping and a few of her necklaces - and that gorgeous pin, I have to show it to you later - and other things in my pockets, I hear footsteps. So I hide in an alcove, the footsteps go away. I’m in the clear. And two turns later, I see this huge chest of drawers with a small mirror standing on top of it. It was the most beautiful mirror I’ve ever seen, Jaebum. More beautiful than anything that girl could do with her mouth—“

“Without these details, please.”

“Right, ‘cause you’re a prude now. Whatever, the mirror— I decided I have to get it, it had to be worth as much as all I had on me already, I swear! So I’m sneaking my way to it, unable to stop myself when I’m given such an opportunity, and guess who’s suddenly emerging from a room next to that fucking drawer. _The_ brother. The rest is history. Had to escape as quickly as possible, but I guess he saw some of my face and, not gonna lie, I suppose that my sweet princess - she isn’t a real princess, of course - might have said something about a certain acrobat wooing her and getting between her legs the night her jewelry was stolen.”

Jaebum sighs. Jiaer’s beer swooshes quietly in his mug as he draws small circles in the air with it.

“Greed doesn’t suit you that well,” Jaebum comments and crosses his arms on his chest, leaning back.

Jiaer scoffs and rolls his eyes. “You know it wouldn’t be for me, Jaebum. Anyway, seems like that goddamn brother has friends who like dirty jobs. I would deal with them on my own, of course,” he adds quickly, ignoring the scoff coming from Jaebum’s direction. “But thanks for helping me deal with them… faster.”

“Anytime,” comes Jaebum’s answer and his eyes, although cold by their nature, look warmer when he smiles lightly at his friend. Jiaer smiles back, small, but grateful.

They sit in silence for a moment, enjoying each other’s company. As always, Jiaer’s the one breaking the silence.

“Why are you even here, witcher? Except the fact that it’s clearly our destiny to keep bumping into each other on every side of the continent.”

Jaebum’s reply is simple. “Hunt,” he says. “I’m coming back from the southern regions. It’s oddly peaceful. There hasn’t been much to do since I had to investigate, and I quote, weird noises from the attic. Turned out there was a weasel living there.”

Jiaer laughs at that. “A witcher called to pacify a weasel,” he snickers. “Now that’s a story!”

“There isn’t much to do here, too. It’s a bit unsettling.”

“No vampires? No ghost stories worth checking? No cockatrices?”

“Nothing. Seems like acrobats fucking rich girls and stealing their hairpins are what this neighbourhood should be afraid of the most.”

“Shh, asshole!” Jiaer shushes him fervently and a few other patrons look their way suspiciously. Jaebum glowers at them. It works. “I know that they have nothing on the two of us together, but I don’t want them back too soon. I’m leaving to the nearest town tomorrow morning, anyway.”

Jaebum hums and frowns slightly, looking at the tabletop. The windows in the tavern are draughty, it seems, because the light flickers from time to time, casts different shadows when the flame of the nearest candle falters.

“My circus wants to perform there in a few days,” Jiaer picks up where he stopped after a minute or two. “They’re waiting for me. We were here for one night only, because the town is not even a day away, but I stayed longer for reasons you already know. But what are your plans, Jaebum? If this village is so uneventful as well, you should come with me. I’m sure you’ll find some good job offers there.”

“What direction is it?”

“West.”

“I was thinking of heading north, Jiaer—”

“Oh, come on!” The acrobat whines and points a finger at the witcher. “There’s nothing in this direction for two days straight! And the town’s on the seaside. When was the last time you could challenge yourself with, let’s say, a siren?”

Jaebum tries hard not to sigh too obnoxiously. He fails.

“Sirens don’t usually come near towns,” he says. “Villages, yes. But nothing larger and more dangerous than that.”

“Don’t be so smart with me,” Jiaer counters without missing a beat. “We both know that there are plenty of ugly beasts you could get a nice trophy for there. I bet there are a few drowners there that need to be taken down.”

Jaebum hates drowners. They stink terribly when they’re alive and stink even worse once you’ve killed them. But, as Jiaer said - you get a fair amount of money for them.

“Oh, I can almost hear your thoughts,” Jiaer sing-songs, a wide grin tugging at his lips. “Jiaer, you’re so clever. Jiaer, you have a point, as always. Jiaer, you smart son of a—”

“Shut the hell up,” Jaebum groans, shoving Jiaer’s shoulder to get him to shut his mouth. It only makes his friend laugh louder.

“It’s going to be fun, Jaebum! Me and you, cruising through the austere nature of middle Redania. Sounds familiar, huh? For the old times’ sake, let’s get one more beer, shall we!”

And that’s exactly what they end up doing, of course.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can’t wait to hear what you think!! Feedback is v highly appreciated in this household lol <3
> 
> xoxo  
> Alka


	2. Back on the Path, pt. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the second part of the first update, as promised. some more jackbum and a bit more action to introduce y'all to this story better!

* * *

 

 

V.

Jiaer means trouble, sincerity and loyalty.  _ And  _ being petty, as Jaebum is reminded on every possible occasion, including right now.

“You just don’t like me as much as you used to,” Jiaer’s saying, pouting and somehow twisting his whole body away from Jaebum, even though he’s sitting on his horse and they’re heading to the town.

The main path leads through the woods, but Jaebum knows that farther west the forest will subside and give room to vast swaths of plain, empty meadows. Those idyllic landscapes end abruptly where the sea begins: with high cliffs and caves full of water and possible bounties underneath them. Jaebum hasn’t been on the seaside in Redania for months, but he remembers how mesmerized he was the first time he saw the raw, desolate almost landscape of these lands.

It was years ago, during his second year on a Witcher Path. Still more of a suckling than a real monster killer, so maybe that was why a picturesque image of Redanian shores made such an impression on him. However, when he went back a couple of years later and saw them once again, he cherished the sight just as much.

Jaebum fights back a smile at the memory it brings him. He met Jiaer during that second visit to Redanian sea. Younger, less muscular, but already prancing - a boy that was conceited to the point that everyone fell for it.

His current Jiaer, although with far more brains and mature logic to his thinking, is still his charming self from years ago. Even if he’s acting like a child that Jaebum’s never asked for.

As if on cue, “Do you even love me?” Jiaer wails, head thrown dramatically back and to the side, one hand to his forehead. “You… bastard! You probably just found a younger, better-looking guy to tag along with you. I’m too old and not fun enough for you, huh?”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about anymore,” Jaebum sighs, leaves his face blank and unaffected. “Weren’t you talking about sharing beds with Bambam due to, as I think you put it, utter poverty?”

“You don’t even listen to me anymore,” Jiaer murmurs gravily, shooting the witcher a dark look. Jaebum can’t sense anything ill-natured there, though. Jiaer’s simply acting, going along with whatever drama he’s already written and arranged in his head while they were on the track.

It’s a habitual thing for him, Jaebum thinks. He probably doesn’t even realize that he’s doing it.

“I just think,” Jiaer starts again not even a minute later. He’s looking straight at the road. “That letting me sleep in your room would be a better idea than kicking me out and calling it a mercy shot when you told me to sleep with Nora. I’d pay you back, Jaebum. I can’t believe that  _ you  _ didn’t believe  _ me _ .”

“I did believe you,” Jaebum corrects instinctively, before he can bite his tongue. Jiaer fishes for validation with as much ease as when he performs his tricks during circus shows. Jaebum’s always annoyed when he gives in to Jiaer’s obvious coaxing that fast. “That you’d pay me back, that is. I don’t think your mirror accident left you broke. Surely not as broke as I am.”

Jiaer, a great, great friend of Jaebum, wrinkles his nose childishly and hums with an overdone sympathy. His eyes are big and round when he looks at Jaebum.

They hold their gazes for a few seconds and then Jiaer’s cracking up, accidentally jabbing his horse’s sides and making him accelerate to a galoop. The acrobat wobbles in the saddle, grabs the reins with frantic and awkward movements. Truly gracious and infallible, Jaebum thinks and he, too, cracks up.

After a moment, they’re by each other’s sides again. Jiaer’s face looks slightly more red and Jaebum still wears his self-satisfied smirk.

“Fucking  _ despise  _ you,” the acrobat grumbles.

The witcher just laughs.

“So why you didn’t let me sleep in your room? It’d have costed less, you broke asshole.”

He has to say it, huh. “You’d just end up on my bed,” he explains. “And it wasn’t big enough for me, let alone for both of us trying to fit in.”

“We’d cuddle,” Jiaer says sweetly, shoots the witcher a broad grin.

Jaebum scoffs, looks away pointedly. Jiaer coos at him then and tugs at the reins to lead his horse left, into Jaebum’s (and Nora’s) space.

Nora neighs nervously as soon as the other animal comes close to her. She shakes her head and moves to the side before Jaebum can stop her.

“Shh, Nora,” Jaebum murmurs to her, hand petting the side of her neck. The mare has always seemed a bit too much like a scaredy-cat for his liking, but her stamina’s proved to be admirable.

Jiaer looks back at the witcher and scoffs, amused. “I’m pretty sure Nora was black when I last saw her,” he points out. Jaebum’s horse is grey, with a messy dark mane and a slim tale.

Jaebum glares at Jiaer.

“Can’t believe all your horses are called the same,” Jiaer sighs despite the deathglare shot by the witcher. Jaebum thinks of ditching him in the woods and heading towards an opposite direction.

Jaebum doesn’t grace him with an answer. Jiaer giggles again, but shuts up afterwards, too.

 

...Not for long, of course.

“Hey, Jaebum!” Jiaer yells - as though the witcher wasn’t literally two meters away - and points at something in the woods, off the main road.

Alert, Jaebum scans the area quickly, but he can’t see anything out of ordinary. The forest here is mostly deciduous, with few coniferous trees scattered in between. The leaves are already dark green, as summer’s turned their lushness into a more mature state, and the trees and bushes hide everything they can possessively, casting shadows on the ubiquitous moss. It looks very much like every other corner of the forest that they’ve passed today.

Though, when Jiaer ushers the witcher closer and points less vaguely, Jaebum notices what probably caught the acrobat’s attention. Broken, with greenery already reclaiming it, a signpost stands a few paces from the main road, hidden behind particularly wide shrubs. There’s a freshly fallen tree resting in the middle of the shrub, showing the signpost to anyone who happens to look in the right direction with a right timing.

“Where would that even lead?!” Jiaer whispers loudly, and then, before Jaebum can say anything, he’s jumping off his stallion’s back. “Let’s find out!”

“The hell, Jiaer,” the witcher groans, doesn’t move to get off his own horse. Jiaer looks back at him and frowns.

“What? Aren’t you curious?” He challenges with a huff. “At least come help me decipher what’s written there. I don’t think I recognize the alphabet.”

Jaebum looks at the signpost again. From where he is, it’s quite hard to tell if  _ he  _ knows the alphabet used on the sign.

With a sigh and an urge to roll his eyes until he goes blind, he gets off Nora’s back and moves closer, following Jiaer’s confident steps.

“Don’t leave your horse alone,” Jaebum murmurs when Jiaer lets go of his stallion’s reins and simply walks into the woods. “You don’t know how much time we’ll spend there.”

The acrobat stops, looks back at the witcher, and then smiles knowingly.

“So you’re up for a little detour, huh?” He says and does as he’s told, finally looking satisfied. “Knew I could count on you.”

“We don’t have that much time to spare,” Jaebum emphasizes, but it seems his words go in and immediately out of Jiaer’s ears. “If we really want to arrive to the town before the dusk.”

His friend is already examining the wooden plate, frowning with his mouth open as he tries to read the contents of it. He stutters once, twice, then halts completely.

“I have no idea what’s written here,” he admits and looks up to gaze at Jaebum. “And you?”

The witcher crouches down, lets go of Nora reins to do so, but not before he murmurs soothingly to her. She blinks at him, calm and trusting.

He stares at the words on the plate and frowns, too, unable to understand even a single word. Four words in an alphabet that looks infuriatingly similar to the ones he knows, but it’s just different enough to make him grimace and shake his head as he stand back up.

“No idea,” he says, turning to Nora, ready to lead her out of the woods and back on the track. “Let’s go ba—”

“Let’s find out what it says on our own, then!” Jiaer interrupts him and grabs both Nora’s and his stallion’s reins. “Come on, Jaebum. I bet there’s nothing dangerous out there. I heard that the last time there were bandits seen in these woods, the forest was still drowning under snow.”

Jaebum admires Jiaer’s confidence when it comes to fighting (and escaping), but… “We have to go back on the road in an hour if we want to get to the town before the dusk,” he repeats his words from earlier.

The acrobat levels him with an unimpressed look.

“Don’t be a pussy, Jaebum,” he just says before he turns and leads both horses.

Nora neighs and looks back at Jaebum. Annoyed, he catches up to them and gets the reins from Jiaer.

“Trying to be careful for your own sake,” he groans to Jiaer’s back as they go through the forest. It’s hard to find a way without various shrubs and ferns, but they somehow manage. The horses aren’t the happiest about that, but they follow their owners. “If something goes down, it’s usually me who has to save your sorry ass. And I will, but only if I manage to.”

“You always do,” Jiaer shrugs. Asshole. “Besides, it isn’t like you’re the only one here who can take care of yourself or of others. Us normal, uninteresting people can get quite deadly, too.”

Jaebum scoffs, curses under his breath. “Just look around, idiot,” he says. “Though I doubt we’ll find anything.”

 

VI.

They find ruins.

It’s been fifteen, maybe twenty minutes since they went off the main road. The forest starts thinning out a short while before they see a small hill rising in front of them, peeking out between the trees. As the ground’s level raises slightly, Jaebum stops Jiaer and nods to point out what is already visible between heavy, thick branches and leaves crowning them.

“A castle,” Jiaer gasps and immediately rushes to see better.

Jaebum groans and grabs him before he can make it any farther. “Wait!”

The acrobat looks disapprovingly at Jaebum’s hand on his bicep.

“We’re leaving our horses here first,” Jaebum explains, letting go of Jiaer’s arm and looking around for a tree to tie Nora up to. “And you are  _ not  _ going there without me.”

Jiaer mumbles something, but obeys. He knows when he cannot really afford to disobey Jaebum.

The ruins are not very vast, but they surely look impressive even from afar. Two towers still stand proudly, although one of them looks ready to collapse if anything threatens it. The walls have been demolished, but some parts of them are still up and tall. From where the stones are fallen and covered with moss almost completely, the witcher and the acrobat see a courtyard and even more ruined walls. More than half of them are only the barest sketch of where certain rooms once began and where they ended.

The nature has already started reclaiming what this castle’s owners took away from it. Small, lean trees, low shrubs and an absurd amount of moss are taking every corner they can, Jaebum notices once him and Jiaer enter the courtyard through a particularly large hole in the wall. A particularly loud bird takes off from a nest on a high point of the ruins as soon as it spots the intruders.

“You hear anything suspicious?” Jiaer murmurs when they simply stand and take in the sight in front of them. “Because I don’t.”

Jaebum stays silent. He feels small, uncertain vibrations from his necklace, but they’ve been there for a few minutes already. He supposes there might be wild animals hidden somewhere down the forest, or maybe a certain monster has its den near the ruins. Either way, the area doesn’t seem as safe and welcoming as he’d like.

Nothing seems too out of ordinary, though. There are no signs of actual threat, Jaebum concludes, and if he feels anything more than those small, insignificant vibrations, he’s going to get Jiaer quickly back to their horses and out of the woods.

“We’re in the clear,” he says eventually and Jiaer laughs in delight, steps onto the courtyard and looks around with hands on his hips.

“Let’s get a closer look, then, shall we!”

The witcher sighs, smiles with just a hint of affection towards his enthusiastic friend and resumes walking.

The ruins aren’t that appealing once you see them from up close, Jaebum thinks as soon as they make a round on the first yard. Farther away, there’s another complex, less ruined and with what appears to be remnants of a fountain.

Which brings to Jaebum’s attention another thing that he’s noticed about the ruins. Their walls, the soil around and inside them, the moss covering so many surfaces here - it’s all oddly, annoyingly damp. Some of the bigger sockets on the ground are filled with water, but Jaebum can’t tell where its source is. He hadn’t noticed any of that dampness while he was walking through the forest. It might have been raining here earlier in the day, but the difference between the ruins and the trees and ground around them is rather significant. It doesn't seem coincidental.

Jiaer almost slips on one of the damper stones, curses loudly and creatively. Jaebum ignores him, trying to tune in and listen acutely to whatever sounds might be hidden. However hard he tries, nothing comes.

He follows Jiaer to where the fountain stands. The sculpture in the middle is missing so many parts that he isn’t even sure what it could be.

The ruins seem to have been robbed too many times to be of any interest anymore, if Jaebum has to be honest. Only the moisture gathered on the stones and greenery there is too severe to simply overlook. He watches as Jiaer slumps onto a ruined, low wall with a resigned groan. Are there monsters that may have a den here and cause the moisture to gather like that? Jaebum ponders, eyes unseeing as he’s deep in thought. Is there a magic trap that works this way or leaves side effects like that? Is it what made this castle the ruin that it is now?

It goes to the back of his mind when he hears Jiaer scream excitedly all of a sudden. He sounds surprised, but delighted.

“Jaebum! Look!” He points out at something on his right.

The witcher steps closer and takes a look.

It’s a glass vase, or something akin to it, sealed with something Jaebum can’t quite decipher: left in a puddle of dark mud, with dirt stuck to it and its insides completely hidden, since the glass is tinted blue and the muck is glued to it stubbornly. Glass isn’t the most common material, and it’s especially odd to find it in ruins so empty of any other findings. It’s closed, too, and Jaebum feels something dark shake his whole body to awareness.

Jiaer lifts the glass container and it comes out of the mud with a wet, disgusting noise. The acrobat wrinkles his nose in distaste.

“Robbers probably thought it’s too dirty to be of any use,” he says, examining it. It’s rather long, like a bottle, but none of its ends is narrower. The seal is metal, or at least looks like it is.

Almost like an oversized test-tube, the thought runs through Jaebum’s head and almost, almost makes him laugh. It would, if it didn’t make him wary first.

“It’s nothing we want, isn’t?” The acrobat asks him. He’s looking at the witcher with a slight frown.

Jaebum’s apprehension must have been quite obvious, then.

“Let’s just leave it here and get back to our horses,” he says. “We won’t find anything more and— Jiaer, don’t—!”

As he’s talking, the acrobat nods absentmindedly, looking at whatever he’s holding, and suddenly raises it and moves to throw and shatter it, probably out of annoyance and boredom.

“Man, you’re no fun,” he whines when Jaebum stops him.

He simply throws it away into the mud - or in the general direction of where the puddle of mud is, at least.

Every witcher has a necklace with a pendant showcasing the animal that represents their school. Jaebum’s pendant is a cat; an angry, wild one showing off its fangs. The pendant has a purpose other than being a reminder of the school to which the witcher belongs; it reacts whenever it feels magic. It vibrates, and the more powerful the magic, the more frantic its vibrations get. It happens when any danger approaches, too.

The bottle hits a rock in the mud with a disgusting, wet noise and a barely audible, but unmistakable sound of a shattering glass.

Nothing happens for a second.

Then, Jaebum’s cat pendant pulls and quakes violently.

Jiaer opens his mouth to, as Jaebum would guess, let him know he finds the ruins unentertaining and wants to get back onto the main road. The acrobat’s words die on his tongue as the ground beneath their feet quivers along with Jaebum’s pendant.

Jiaer jumps back with a startled shriek when the crack in the glass lights up and then dulls again under a sudden whirl of… something. It trickles out from between the crack so quickly it’s hard to see the process of it, but as Jaebum withdraws his silver sword, he witnesses how the fog takes on a humanoid form. A feminine shape comes into picture for a blink of an eye, but the creature reshapes as it spots Jiaer, Jaebum and the sword he’s holding. The silhouette is distorted again, limbs and head hard to differentiate in the misty chaos.

It’s too sudden, too frantic, and before Jaebum can so much as shout and tug Jiaer back, the monster claws at the acrobat. It looks dream-like, foggy claws somehow unfocused yet sharp and striking at the same time.

Jiaer is infamous for his escapes and Jaebum could swear he’s one of the fastest runners he knows, but the creature moves quicker, catches Jiaer’s leg in a vice grip and tugs, makes the acrobat stumble and fall backwards. The monster gurgles, swishes triumphantly and pulls the man effortlessly towards itself, seemingly doubling in size as it mounts over him now.

But by that time, Jaebum’s already moving.

His sword slices through the air and lands right where the witcher aimed it. But it goes right through the monster’s arms— meeting close to no resistance, as though Jaebum sliced through actual mist.

The monster roars. Jiaer shouts when it twists his ankle, the joint held in an awkward angle that Jaebum knows is too unnatural to leave the acrobat uninjured.

He jumps back and to the side when the monster claws in his own direction. He swings his sword again, aiming for the center of the misty form.

The silver whines as it meets the monster’s body, this time touching  _ something. _

Jaebum’s victory is short lived. The sword flies out of his grip as the monster shakes and screeches, turning and baring strangely sharp fangs. A wave of something intangible leaves him breathless and stumbling, magical energy clouding his mind for a second too long.

It must be what knocked the sword out of his grip.

Jiaer is screaming profanities at the monster still clutching his leg, trying to free himself. His steel digger stabbed into the misty form makes it hiss and tremble, but doesn’t do much damage. It claws at his neck and Jiaer makes a strangled noise, reaching with his hands and trying to pry the monster’s paws off of him.

The air is absurdly, impossibly humid, too heavy to breathe.

Jaebum needs to pick up his sword.

It’s a step too far away. Jaebum’s in a familiar puddle of mud and his sword is next to the fountain.

He sees the monster choking the acrobat and does the first thing he can think of before he can get to his sword.

He bends, picks the glass vessel, now cracked and even more ugly than it was before, and throws. It crosses the distance between the witcher and the monster and gets stuck right under its head. The monster screeches again, leaves Jiaer and wriggles chaotically to reach for the offending glass. Jaebum, in need for time, puts his fingers into the Igni sign and aims all the energy he can find around him into it.

Using a sign is almost too easy, way easier than he remembers it to be, but he gives it no thought, just makes the best out of it.

The fire sparks hotly despite the overbearing moisture. It gets to the monster, makes the glass sear and something shatters again, but Jaebum can’t see what it is. He has his sword in his hand again and growls at the monster, already jumping to its writhing silhouette.

The mist, suddenly silent, forms into a more humanoid shape. It looks surprised.

Jaebum cuts his sword through it with ease, aiming for its neck. It shakes the monster, makes it reshape itself again into a misty cloud. Jaebum jumps back, readying himself for the counterattack.

But then, the creature runs away.

A low groan comes from the fastly moving, thunderous cloud, as it swishes between the ruins, then trees, and up, up to their crowns until it’s completely gone.

Jaebum’s witcher pendant is still vibrating, but the movements are low, just like they were when they first entered the area.

The forest’s oddly silent for a second, and then Jiaer groans brokenly in the mud. Jaebum’s by his side the next second.

“Jiaer? You hear me? Can you speak? Can you move?”

The acrobat wheezes and thrashes, coughs blood in the process. His left ankle is twisted in a weird angle, his calf bruised and a bit distorted. Jaebum feels his heart sink.

“Fuhhh— fucking bitch—“ Jiaer moans.

Oh. He’s alive  _ and _ conscious, then. “Shut up,” Jaebum instructs him. He looks around.

The glass vessel’s lying on the ground a few steps away, not really looking like  _ anything  _ anymore. It must have fallen off when the monster was writhing and then running away. Jaebum picks it up, investigates it. His pendant quivers once as he holds it closer to his face.

It’s damaged, cracked and with its upper half missing almost completely. Inside of it sits a small sigil. Signs unknown to Jaebum cover its flat surface.

Jaebum doesn’t hesitate; he hides it in a pocket. He doesn’t find anything more in the tiny area they are in and goes back to Jiaer.

“You’re  _ not _ standing up on your own,” he growls at his friend. Jiaer looks determined to use his hurt leg in spite of every possible negative outcome of that decision and the obvious pain it brings.

The air around them is infuriatingly humid.

“Then hhh—“ The acrobat tries to speak, but grimaces and falls into another coughing fit. Jaebum lays his friend down when the coughing subsides. They’re both covered in the dirt from head to toe, mud sticking to every surface there is.

Jaebum swipes the black strands of his fringe back, ignoring how much dirt he’s probably putting into them by doing that. He needs to focus and act quickly.

“I’ll treat your leg as well as I can and then we’ll get you to the town, you fucking idiot,” Jaebum says as he examines his friend’s ankle again. The man glowers at him, opening his mouth to retort something undeniably obscene. “Shut up, I said.”

And thankfully, Jiaer has enough decency to finally listen to the witcher.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ask away in the comments if you have any questions + I was thinking of making a curious cat account, so let me know if that's a good idea! Also: I can't be sure when the next update will be, but I'd say in two weeks?? I'm in the middle of my finals now lmao please be patient with me!
> 
> Thanks for reading and for all your feedback, and I hope you're enjoying the story so far. <3
> 
> xoxo  
> Alka


	3. Three Jackdaws, pt. I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a month full of bad mental health days and no creative energy whatsoever, I'm (kind of) back. This chapter is your classic case of I-hate-it-but-not-really, a much-needed-world-building-episode and however else you'd like to call it. Without it this story wouldn't be the way I want it to be, so we all just need to love it as it is. 
> 
> PS. happy belated birthday to ME, your fav Leo writer! hope y'all are having an amazing time this Leo season <3

 

 

I.

“I’m good,” Jiaer mumbles, eyes stubbornly on his stallion’s mane. “It just hurts a little.”

Jaebum’s managed to get his friend on his horse’s back in the forest - he didn’t want to make him hobble his way back to the main road. But now that they’re back on it and rushing their horses to trot, Jiaer’s looking a bit paler than usual, his tan unable to hide how his features harden and pale as he struggles to keep himself seated in the saddle.

Jaebum observes him for a minute longer and makes up his mind.

“Slow down,” he says firmly, letting Nora slow down first and set an easier pace for both of them. He looks expectantly at Jiaer’s back while his stallion’s still trotting.

He hears Jiaer sigh and mumble something under his breath, but then the acrobat obeys.

“We’ll arrive early enough anyway,” the witcher says when they’re side by side again. Jiaer hums, doesn’t respond. It’s alarming, but Jaebum lets him be. Jiaer stopped coughing - and coughing out blood, thankfully - a while ago, but it might be for the better to keep him hushed for a moment longer.

However, the silence makes a perfect room for thoughts to race and nerves to worsen.

Jaebum’s on edge. It’s one thing to be suddenly attacked by a monster and have to defend his best friend from it; he’s done that multiple times and he’s sure he’ll need to do that several more in the future. But there’s another issue occupying his mind. Jaebum doesn’t know  _ what  _ exactly he fought with in those ruins.

Jiaer asked him about it as soon as he could talk properly. Jaebum barked at him to shut up and stay focused on finding their way out of the forest.

Obviously, Jaebum’s heard about magically compressed creatures,  _ humans, _ even - molded into a jade figure with a powerful spell of a great sorcerer. The thing that trickled out of that glass vessel seemed like, and Jaebum can’t even believe he’s admitting that to himself, like a creature  _ made  _ out of magic. Nothing he’s seen or conquered before.

He might have heard about creatures of this sort. But, just like tales about dragons, he’s considered those stories he’s heard unworthy of taking into consideration. It just seems too unreal, too weird and out of this world to be true.

On the other hand, he thinks, most of the monsters he’s hired to slay seem out of this world - and  _ are  _ out of this world. Monsters like wyverns, like ghouls and vampires, they weren’t there before the Conjunction of the Spheres. They appeared between the human kind only after the Conjunction had happened.

The sigil in Jaebum’s pocket feels heavy, despite its inconspicuous size. It has to hold a meaning greater than being a simple coincidence, but Jaebum doesn’t feel safe examining it even in a semi-open space of the main road. Besides, he doubts he’d be able to find any answers by simply looking at it. If anything, he’s quite sure he’s going to give himself a headache if he lets himself linger on this topic any longer.

He closes his eyes, straightens, relaxes his arms. He trusts Nora to not detour nor make any jumpscares as he inhales deeply and does his best to still his mind with a quick meditation session.

It helps - the meditation, that is. Jiaer stays silent and grumpy, so Jaebum takes full advantage of that. With the gentle swoosh of the forest around them and birds chirping occasionally, their journey is rather peaceful and quiet, objectively speaking.

Well, it is, until they’re not alone anymore.

 

II.

The sky darkens quicker than the witcher assumed it would.

The sun isn’t setting earlier than it should, of course. Instead, the beautiful, blue canvas above them starts getting greyer, darker with thunderous clouds as they get closer to the seaside. The woods begin to thin out and Jaebum curses the weather, hates it with his whole being at that moment. Him and Jiaer are going to go through a storm in a plain sight; they have to. Unless they decide to stop for a break while they’re still near the forest, but that isn’t the safest idea, either. It also means they’ll arrive to the town by midnight, if not later.

The upcoming, grumbling storm shakes Jiaer into his familiar state of a blabbering mess, suddenly makes him more alive and aware than he’s been for the past few hours. Jaebum is glad that the acrobat’s feeling well enough to get this vocal, but, as Jaebum’s mood drops alongside with the temperature around them, he doesn’t appreciate it  _ that  _ much.

“Jaebum, we need to stop,” Jiaer says for a third time now, anxiously glancing at the darkening sky.

The wind has picked up already and Jiaer’s coat flaps loudly as a particularly strong gust hits it. The acrobat shivers excessively, wraps the coat tighter around himself.

The witcher doesn’t reply. He’s starting to think that stopping is actually the only option they have, but he doesn’t share that with his friend just yet.

Jiaer looks at him and back at the sky. A large drop falls right onto his nose.

“Jaebum!” The acrobat’s voice raises immediately. The witcher clenches his jaw, annoyed at everything and nothing in particular. This day’s just going annoyingly bad and  _ he  _ has to deal with it all.

He keeps looking straight at the road.

There’s a sharper turn ahead of them and although the world around them is drowning in gloomy shadows already, Jaebum notices two figures there, crouching on the side together with what appears to be saddlecloths held above their heads. Two horses are tied to the trees on the side of the road, standing close to each other for warmth and comfort. 

Jiaer notices their silhouettes only a few seconds later. He makes a surprised noise, straightening in his saddle to see better. Then, he smirks and sends Jaebum a triumphant look.

“The world wants us to make a little stop,” he says, nodding his head to point at the strangers. “So, you know. You look dangerous and I do the talking. We’re gonna make new friends!” 

He tries to kick his stallion’s sides with his heels, but the pressure it puts on his left ankle leaves him hissing and cursing under his breath. Jaebum doesn’t comment on it, just sighs and rubs his forehead, drags his hand down his face. Then sighs again.

Lightning strikes through the sky, followed immediately by loud thunder. The sound resonates in a low grumble, slowly giving away to the noise of the forest bending under the wind.

They’re a couple of meters away from the two strangers now and Jiaer’s opening his mouth to yell a friendly greeting. It comes as a surprise to both him and the witcher when one of the strangers looks up and ushers them closer with a loud,

“Sirs! That’s not a weather to stroll so peacefully in!” As though he was chastising them, but his boyish, cheerful voice makes it impossible to take offense. “Here, join us!”

“We were just about to ask,” Jiaer screams back, trying to come off just as cheerful, but the wind and another thunder rolling through the sky make his friendly smile falter.

The man who shouted in their direction stands up, lets the saddlecloth fall back and reveal a young looking face, free of wrinkles and scars.

Then, he kicks the man next to him, who’s still awkwardly crouching down.

“Stand up and greet them, dumbass,” the first guy hisses.

Jaebum exchanges looks with Jiaer.

“The hell, Youngjae,” the other one grumbles, massaging his kicked hip with way too much force; but he stands up, too, and leaves his own saddlecloth on his shoulders only.

The rain starts to drizzle, heavy drops falling faster with every second. The other man-- boy, really-- swipes his dark hair away from his eyes and makes a surprised little noise when a lonely water drop hits him in the forehead.

“Join us, travelers,” the first guy - Youngjae - says from underneath his impromptu umbrella. “The more, the merrier, am I right?”

Jiaer immediately lights up, because of course, that’s one of his mottos. Jaebum observes how the acrobat sways in his saddle, throws his good leg above his stallion’s neck and tries to balance himself before getting off. His struggle is obvious to the two strangers, too. They eye Jiaer with uncertainty before they notice his left leg being provisionally stiffened. It makes both of them gasp and rush to help the man off his horse.

Jaebum snorts under his breath, sliding to the ground with ease and watching the commotion before him.

“Oh, dude, that must hurt--”

“Yeah, actually, but it’s not that bad, you know--”

“Come here, come here. We got you. Oh, you need to see a medic, a stiffening like that won’t do you much good.”

Hearing that last comment, Jaebum snorts again. Loudly this time.

“I did my best, thank you,” he says, going to tie both Nora and Jiaer’s stallion to the nearest tree. Two horses that stand there already blink lazily at the other animals, but don’t react much more. Nora stubbornly goes more to the side, farther from the strangers.

“Sir, no offense, but judging from the look of it, I think you’ve never treated another human being,” the boy with his name still unknown says then, looking pointedly at Jaebum.

The one called Youngjae snickers and recoils just the slightest to slap the other’s arm and chastise him half-heartedly. The latter is noticeably taller than all of the men gathered, but Jaebum is positive that he’s the youngest here. It’s in the way he carries himself, still too careless.

Jaebum reaches for the blanket under Nora’s saddle, then takes the one from Jiaer’s horse’s back, too. It’s going to be helpful. The rain intensifies along with the wind. 

Jiaer hobbles bravely - stupidly - farther to the side. The tall boy catches him and wraps an arm around his waist to help him.

Youngjae clears his throat then. It gets lost in a loud thunder crashing through the sky.

“The weather-- the weather should get better soon,” he stammers when he locks his eyes with Jaebum, suddenly looking stricken. Although obviously taken aback by Jaebum’s feline eyes, he still continues, still reaches his hand to greet Jaebum properly. “I’m Youngjae, of Vizima,” he says with a friendly smile that doesn’t match the mood around them.

The witcher takes his hand and shakes it, catching himself on a small smile.

“Jaebum,” he says simply, then nods his head in Jiaer’s direction. The acrobat is already deep in a conversation with the tall boy. “And that’s Jiaer. Like your friend’s already noticed, he needs to see a medic as soon as possible.”

“There’s someone in Erinden who could help him, for sure,” Youngjae says and ushers them both to join his comrade and the acrobat. “And I’m sorry for Yugyeom. He can be a complete brat, so I apologize.”

Jaebum gives him a polite smile. “That’s not your fault nor—”

“Oh, that might be my fault, Jaebum,” Youngjae shakes his head and the saddlecloth falls from his head. He quickly grabs it before it hits the ground. “I always spoiled him— he’s my little brother. I mean, not that little.” And here, Youngjae plops next to Yugyeom. The latter, together with Jiaer, is sitting on a fallen tree, heavy blanket draped over his head again. “He should,” Youngjae nudges Yugyeom, “know how to behave by now!”

“Shut up,” Yugyeom barks back, but the only malice Jaebum hears there is probably based on a brotherly bond the two apparently share.

“At least greet sir Jaebum properly,” Youngjae gestures and Yugyeom grumbles before extending his hand in Jaebum’s direction. The witcher takes it.

“I’m Yugyeom. Of Vizima, of course,” Yugyeom says as though his name was really that obvious. “Sorry for criticizing your medical skills.”

“It’s okay, he knows he sucks,” Jiaer chimes in, mischievous smirk tugging on his lips. Jaebum throws him a nasty look, to which the acrobat just sends him a kiss playfully.

The witcher glances back at Yugyeom, letting go of his hand. “And I’m Jaebum. Of nowhere in particular.”

“If that’s not too daring of us to ask,” Youngjae’s the one talking now, while Jaebum gives Jiaer his blanket and throws his own onto himself, covering his already wet hair. His hair’s too long, he thinks briefly. He needs to go see a barber when they get to the town. “That might be weird to ask, but… Your eyes, Jaebum. And uhm, your general...” Youngjae gestures at him, eyes falling quite obviously on the outline of Jaebum’s swords under the blanket. “Your overall look. I don’t think you’re a knight like us, right?”

“You’re knights?” Jiaer butts in before Jaebum can say anything. The witcher just shuts his mouth and looks at his friend with tired exasperation. “What is your coat of arms, then?”

Yugyeom moves away the blanket, revealing his bearings sewn onto the coat he’s wearing. Two black horses standing on their back legs, not facing each other, with crossed swords above them and a yellow flower - a dandelion - as the background.

“House of Choi,” Yugyeom says, proudly showing off his heraldic achievement.

Youngjae, on the other hand, is still looking at Jaebum. Expectant, curious.

“I’m a witcher,” Jaebum says and Youngjae’s eyes widen in shock.

“That’s my first time seeing one in person!” He exclaims excitedly, then looks down with an embarrassed laugh. “I just— You know, I only heard about witchers from folk stories.”

Yugyeom hums in agreement. “That’s so cool,” he sighs dreamily, then looks down at his coat of arms and grimaces. “I sincerely thought life would be more interesting once we leave our hometown and become knights-errant, but look at us, getting wet and dirty in the middle of a forest with nowhere to go.”

Jiaer wraps a friendly arm around him, never one to shy away from physical interactions. Yugyeom doesn’t flinch away either, Jaebum notices.

“Are you traveling from or to Erinden?” Jiaer asks conversationally.

“To,” says the young knight-errant. “But I doubt there’ll be anything interesting happening. It’s like, on the edge of the world, too far away from  _ everywhere  _ and with smallest docks in Redania, from what I’ve heard.”

Jiaer gasps. “Oh, but there will be something really interesting happening there soon!” He says, slapping Yugyeom’s knee to get his full attention. “My circus performs there in a few days! You can’t miss that. Have you ever seen fire-eaters?”

“You’re in a circus?” Youngjae asks, his curiosity and excitement renewed. But then, his eyes wander to Jiaer’s injured leg and he grimaces, sympathy written all over his face. “Oh, sir Jiaer… I think you shouldn’t perform with them until you get to rest and someone treats you right.” There, Youngjae glances apologetically at Jaebum. The witcher just blinks, unfazed.

“We’ll see about that,” the acrobat just says, shrugging the topic of his injury off easily. He opens his mouth to speak again, but is interrupted by a lightning cutting the sky near them, thunder coming right away. Branches break somewhere in the forest, fall in the darkness that envelops the world around them.

Nora neighs anxiously and tugs violently on the line she’s tied with, stamping about in place. Jaebum curses under his breath, goes to check on her.

She’s scared, eyes wide and nostrils flared as she pants nervously. The witcher murmurs soothing words to her, hand raised to pet her neck. She pulls away at first, backing away from him.

Another low grumble rolls through the sky and Nora panics even more. The witcher curses again. With a few confident steps forward, he’s standing in front of his horse, the animal looking at him with wild, distrustful eyes.

“I know you don’t like that,” he says, raising his hand again, but this time he aims it at the horse’s head. “But you’ll feel better, baby girl.”

Nora doesn’t understand him, obviously, but he still feels bad for the animal as he puts his fingers into the Axii sign. His horse calms down under the simple spell, her panic subsides and eyes blink lazily. Jaebum coos at his horse, ushers her gently back to the tree, away from the rain.

“Show-off!” He hears from behind. When he looks over his shoulder, he sees Jiaer with arms crossed and an unimpressed look on his face, and next to him sit two knights-errant with their mouths hanging open and eyes shining with admiration.

Jaebum allows himself to smirk slightly, amused by the sight. So that’s what he’s ending up with tonight.

 

III.

They arrive to Erinden past midnight.

The storm lasted way too long for anyone’s taste, ruining any plans they all had. It brought some good news, though.

Among the cooling rain and lightning bringing unwanted shudders and goosebumps, Jaebum’s learnt that his and Jiaer’s new companions are more responsible and down to earth than you could label them as at the first glance. Yugyeom’s softer than Youngjae, surprisingly; it might be the boyishness he still has in him, or the fact that he’s the youngest of the Choi siblings, as Youngjae told them. Their sister is from a year between Yugyeom and Youngjae, and the oldest of the four, Minho, is soon going to be the head of the family, seeing as their father’s health is getting worse with every day. Medics say this summer is going to be his last one.

Youngjae and Yugyeom have always been more adventurous and curious, and that’s how they found themselves as knights-errant, wandering through Redania with a very basic knowledge on which inn is the best to stay at and which brothel is the best to visit.

That knowledge proves to be essential once they all reach Erinden.

“Three Jackdaws,” Youngjae hums under his breath, then repeats, “Three Jackdaws, yes! That was the name. I think we should just head there, see if they have any vacant rooms left for the night.”

Erinden is quiet.

The streets are narrow, barely enough for one carriage. They enter through the main gate, and yet even the main road gnaws at them with its stone buildings raised high and shadows casted long and possessive. And it’s quiet, with hushed murmurs from a few houses sewn into the silence. Jaebum’s ears pick up on single words being thrown too loudly, carelessly. Most of those, however, gets lost in the navy blue hues of the night and the flickering, meager light of sporadic lanterns.

A cat crosses the main road, stopping to observe the newcomers from another shadow. Its eyes shine for a second when the light hits them. Then, the animal is gone.

Three Jackdaws is slightly off the main street, with a heavy array of red geraniums decorating the barriers of its balcony. It’s easy to spot; an inn on the main square is most probably too expensive for most of the townsfolk, so the witcher isn’t surprised to see a range of patrons seated in another tavern down one of the side roads. The commotion trickling out of the open windows, paired with bright lights and even brighter laughter, is enough of a clue to lead Jaebum and his companions to their destination.

Yugyeom and Youngjae volunteer to take care of the four horses, taking them all to the stable next to the inn. Jaebum helps Jiaer in getting inside the building.

People aren’t too thrilled by their entrance. Not that many even notice new patrons coming in: most of the visitors are way too gone to care about them, anyway. Might be for the best, the witcher thinks.

He squints his eyes under furrowed brows as he looks around the main room. No familiar faces, so Jiaer’s circus must be staying somewhere else - in their own caravan, maybe, somewhere on the outskirts of the town, but still within its walls. They’ve done that quite a few times.

“Jaebum?” Jiaer gets his attention easily and nods his head to point at a mostly vacant table.

On one side, the bench is occupied by two lean, impeccably dressed figures. Uneasiness tugs at Jaebum’s stomach before he spots the pointed ears of the two patrons - an unmistakable, distinctive feature telling him that no, it isn’t strange that the two are dressed so nicely just to sit in a lower rank inn at such an ungodly hour, and no, it isn’t strange that no one else is sitting on this table. 

Elves and humans are known to live next to each other - and that’s usually the best that you can say about how the two races cooperate.

“There?” Jaebum makes sure before he trudges to the table with Jiaer almost draped over him. His friend’s body seems heavier after a whole day of unexpected difficulties and sitting in a saddle.

“Can we?” The acrobat asks, his usual charm coming out easily even through the exhaustion that weighs on his shoulders and makes his eyelids droopy.

The two elves look up with mild interest, observe as the witcher and the acrobat take seats next to each other, facing the elves. Jiaer curses under his breath when he almost bangs his injured ankle on a wooden leg.

Jaebum hears him inhale sharply after that and glances at the acrobat questioningly.

Jiaer’s staring at the two strangers in front of him, both of them wearing same slightly amused, but mostly just bored expressions. Jaebum follows Jiaer’s gaze and, although reluctantly, he also appreciates the sharp features and full lips of the elves, their long, dark eyelashes framing oddly distinct eyes, and the way their bodies hold a gracefulness so unfamiliar and alluring that it might be a trick on your mind, so otherworldly it feels. There’s something ethereal to elven people, Jaebum thinks not for the first time in his life. It’s so easy to forget that they aren’t even that different from humans.

The male elf clears his throat, fidgets - he’s crossing his legs despite the lack of space under their table.

“Welcome,” he greets them, and the female elf next to him smiles kindly at them, adding her own greeting.

Jiaer sways in Jaebum direction, then straightens abruptly and replies,

“Good evening,” with a seriousness too outstandish to be taken, well, seriously.

It makes the two elves smirk.

“I’m Sunmi,” the female elf introduces herself, trading her fingers through her long, black hair. “And my friend is called Yien.”

The male elf nods his head politely. Blonde strands of straight hair fall gently past his skinny shoulders.

“And who are you, dear travelers?” Sunmi asks with another kind smile that makes Jiaer sway quite obviously.

Jaebum throws him a glare, but the acrobat doesn’t see it. So, the witcher crashes the urge to roll his eyes, clears his throat and introduces himself and Jiaer.

The elves listen to him with curiosity sparkling in their eyes; or maybe that’s only a mirrored glint from dancing flames of the candles and low hanging chandeliers. The inn and its visitors are loud, creating a wall of sound around them, but the chaos is tamed just enough to become a white noise. Jaebum indulges the elves in a polite small talk.

Strangely enough, it’s Jiaer who spots Yugyeom and Youngjae entering the inn. He waves to them frantically, mouths something and then points at the counter, where the innkeeper stands with her elbows rested on the surface. The knights-errant seem to get the hint and go straight to the counter to place their orders.

“These’re our new friends,” Jiaer says, butting in and interrupting Jaebum mid-sentence. “Sorry, what was it?”

The witcher shoots him another annoyed glance and it makes Yien snicker openly. Sunmi hides her own smile behind her hand. She’s wearing a minutely made ring, shining with its small gemstone head.

“I was saying that we’re looking for a place to stay at for the night,” Jaebum says after a short pause. “Because you’re injured. And that you need to see a medic.”

“Oh, I definitely do,” Jiaer dives back into the conversation with renewed confidence. “My circus is going to perform here in a few days and they clearly need me. I’m their best asset, I’m telling you.”

“Your circus?” Sunmi repeats, her interest less polite and more genuine now that the conversation is truly unwinding.

“Is there someone called Bambam there?” Yien asks right after, head tilted in a way that shouldn’t look this nonchalant and flirtatious. But it does, Jaebum thinks and looks away.

He’s not that interested.

Jiaer, on the other hand, buys it without batting an eyelash.

“Oh- ohh! You know Bammie?” He stutters a bit in his sudden excitement.

“Is he a pretentious half-elf?” Jiaer laughs at that, but nods in affirmation. “Then he was the one visiting my shop just yesterday afternoon.”

“Oh? What kind of shop do you own?” Jiaer’s asking as the knights-errant join them on the table.

The conversation drifts off, even though Jiaer shoots an apologetic look at the elf. Yien gives him a reserved, but not unkind smile, and then dives into the convo that’s unraveled between the rest of them.

Jaebum is grateful for the mead the knights ordered. He gulps down the first few sips thirstily, quickly, before reminding himself that he’s not alone. The long day has taken a toll on his mind and body, he thinks. Everything feels a bit out of his control, out of his reach. He needs to rest.

The inn is bustling with life despite the late hour. Jaebum sits silently, listening to his companions, then drifting off to observe his surroundings. The night’s humid; must be the storm’s fault.

“Yien,” Jiaer’s saying, bright eyes directed straight at the elf. The liquor and the number of friends he can talk to have breathed life back into him. “I haven’t heard earlier. What kind of shop do you own?”

Yien looks pleasantly surprised, judging by the funny face he makes at the sudden renewal of Jiaer’s previous question. Next to him, Sunmi’s rested her chin on her hand - the one with the beautiful ring on it.

“I sell fabrics and clothing designed and sewn by me,” Yien answers.

“Sounds like a place that Bambam would visit,” Jiaer agrees with an easy laugh. Then, he gives Sunmi a curious glance. “What about you, Sunmi?”

“Selling herbs and various medications,” she says and flips her hand so that her chin is now rested on the back of it. “I’m one of the two medics in Erinden, but, as you may have noticed, I’m not a qualified human male, so it’s an unofficial title.”

The knights-errant look a bit confused at Sunmi’s statement. They still have a lot to learn, Jaebum thinks.

Jiaer huffs, crossing his arms on his chest. The witcher notes with amusement how the elves actually follow the movement and hang their gazes for a second too long on the acrobat’s biceps. No one’s perfect, even the most collected and gracious race. “Baloney!” Jiaer scoffs. “How can anyone diminish your obvious worth in favor of some dirty, uneducated human medic?”

“You don’t know if he’s uneducated,” Sunmi says, but Yien smirks at that and adds,

“Which doesn’t mean he isn’t. He clearly is, frankly speaking. Uneducated.”

“Moreover,” Jiaer says with his puppy enthusiasm. “I’d love to be treated by a medic like lady Sunmi!” And he doesn’t notice just how blunt his comment is for a second or two. The short silence is enough for everyone to see an implication in his words, though, and suddenly Jiaer’s frantically saying, “No, no, I mean— I’m not forcing myself into your services— that’s not what I meant!”

Sunmi laughs, a beautiful, free sound escaping her full lips. Yien giggles, his eyes genuinely amused.

“It’s okay, Jiaer,” Sunmi shushes him, waving her hand at him. “I wanted to suggest that, as I think you’d like to see someone who would be able to take care of your leg as soon as possible.”

“That’s true,” Jiaer sighs, eyes a bit dreamy now. “See, Jaebum? You can just leave me here, with my new gorgeous friends. Actually, I’m already feeling better. I’m healed. Cured. Happy.”

They all snicker at Jiaer’s babbling. Even the witcher smirks, familiar affection tugging at the corner of his lips.

“But,” the elven girl continues then, features hardening. “I’m not capable of  _ healing _ your leg by any means. Even with my treatment, it’ll be weeks before you can safely perform with your circus again.”

Jiaer’s face falls. Everyone at the table can easily say how bothersome these news are for the acrobat. While not surprising, the sting of hurt is still terribly obvious in the pinch of Jiaer’s eyebrows and the hunch of his broad shoulders.

There’s a short pause in the conversation at their table after Sunmi’s words. The knights are shifting in their seats, clearly gathering thoughts to come up with another topic and cover the awkward atmosphere. The rest of the inn is as lively and uncaring as ever.

It’s Yien who speaks first, drawing immediate attention to himself.

“There’s someone who could possibly heal you within hours,” he says, voice steady.

Sunmi glances at him and the two share a short, meaningful look. The elven girl gestures for her companion to carry on.

“I believe you ought to be treated by Sunmi first, anyway,” Yien begins, looking at the acrobat. “But the only way to give you a chance to perform in mere few days is to use magic. More powerful one than what we both can do, and what your witcher friend can perform.” There, Yien gives Jaebum a quick smile. “And that’s not a jab at how badly you stiffened Jiaer’s leg, witcher.”

Jaebum’s brows furrow, but he stays silent. Has he  _ really _ done such a shitty job? Everyone keeps referring to it somehow.

“So you mean,” Yugyeom butts in, his beer sloshing in his jug as he sways it dangerously close to Youngjae’s lap. “There’s a sorcerer somewhere in Erinden?”

“Very close to Erinden, yes,” Sunmi speaks up. “There’s a lighthouse near the town which he made into his house.”

“A sorcerer living in a lighthouse near Erinden?” Jaebum repeats, sceptical. “I’ve never heard of a wizard living in this area, let alone in an old lighthouse.”

“That’s because he’s still an undoubtedly new addition to our neighborhood,” Yien explains with a small smile that the witcher cannot decipher. “He’s been living here for three and a half months now. Came here around spring upon hearing about the strange news that erupted then in the west Redania.”

“Oh!” Youngjae exclaims, eyes widening in recognition. “About an ancient, magical monster tormenting the innocent civilians here?”

“Accurate,” Sunmi giggles and the knight-errant flushes deep red under her attention. “Jinyoung is a powerful mage, with an ambitious strike and an obvious need to achieve more than his colleagues could ever achieve. That’s why he left Oxenfurt and came here - to hunt down that creature.”

An ancient creature, Jaebum repeats in his head. Here, in western Redania. Now, doesn’t  _ that _ sound familiar.

“...and that’s how we know he’s surely qualified enough to take proper care of your injury, Jiaer,” Yien concludes. “He was once giving lectures as the youngest professor of Oxenfurt. I doubt you could find a more gifted and competent sorcerer.”

Jiaer whistles and purses his lips, leaning back in his seat and nodding. “Sounds perfect,” he says, then turns to look at the witcher. “Don’t you think, Jaebum? What your witcher senses say?”

The witcher isn’t  _ sure _ what attacked him and Jiaer, but he has a feeling it’s the same monster that the mage from Oxenfurt tries to get a hold on.

He doesn’t bring that up. Instead, he murmurs,

“His services are probably as pricey as they sound,” although the cost should be worth the outcomes, in the end. He watches Jiaer’s thoughtful expression for a second longer before looking at the elves in front of them. Their eyes are nothing less than kind, he notes. It’s almost unsettling. “Tell us more about that wizard. His name…?”

“Jinyoung,” Yien contributes, and the name falls softer than Jaebum expected, clashes with a general, cold image of a mage that the witcher’s currently making up in his mind. “His arrival was quite an event in Erinden. People didn’t even realize how much they needed a mage’s help until he appeared out of nowhere, ready to lend a helping hand in various cases. The townsfolk took a liking to him after his first week here.”

“And the townshall hates him for it,” Sunmi supplies after that. It elicits a knowing chuckle from the knights-errant and Jiaer. Jaebum listens in silence, storing all the info for later. “A stranger being more liked than the government of the town? Unacceptable. So, they were actually more than happy to give him the southern lighthouse. It hasn’t been used in the recent years, anyway, and has always looked more like a tower than what is was supposed to be. Regardless—”

“Fuck, wait,” Jiaer suddenly interrupts, then blanches a bit. “ _ Shit, _ sorry—”

“Oh, gods,” Yugyeom sighs on the side and the group laughs.

Jiaer looks mortified, but the elven girl waves off his brash words. “I’ve lived with humans long enough to be used to all that cursing,” she says with a genuinely amused smile. “What was it that you wanted to say, acrobat?”

Said acrobat clears his throat with a bashful smile of his own. “Just realized that if the wizard’s living outside the town, I need to get there. After a whole day on my horse’s back, it just… doesn’t sound too appealing.”

“You need to rest first, that’s for sure,” Sunmi tells him with the slightest frown. “I don’t want you to leave your bed tomorrow morning.”

Yien nods. “Regardless, we need Jinyoung’s agreement first. He might be quite busy... after today, so even before we send Jiaer to him, someone should ask him for that favour first.”

_ After today? _

“I’ll go,” Jaebum speaks up then, shutting the knights-errant’s mouths. They clearly wanted to volunteer, too.

The acrobat looks at him with an incredulous look on his face. “What?! No, no, Jaebum. You’ve already babied me enough, I don’t need—“

“That’s actually a good idea,” Yien interrupts him. His quiet voice cuts through Jiaer’s loud and obnoxious one effortlessly. “Jinyoung is a person that… doesn’t tolerate stupidity well. And sending an injured man on another journey, however short it is, would certainly be a dumb idea.”

“And, as Yien said,” Sunmi says then, “our wizard likes to have his work organized and his time respected. It isn’t just a friendly hint from us.”

_ Our wizard, _ Jaebum’s mind repeats. Must be really loved by the townsfolk if they’ve already adopted him as their own after not even four months.

“I’ll visit him tomorrow morning,” Jaebum announces, looking at no one in particular. He reaches for his jug of mead and realizes it’s completely empty. He isn’t sure if he wants it refilled, or if he should head to sleep after downing one only.

Youngjae asks about something just then and the conversation shifts, enters more neutral waters once again. Jiaer catches the witcher’s eyes when the latter glances at him.

The acrobat nods once, gratitude coloring his gaze. Jaebum acknowledges him, then turns to look at the rest of their group.

He doesn’t contribute much to the rest of the conversation. His thoughts circle around his newest task - the visit in the mage’s tower. It sounds a bit old-fashioned, fairy-tale like, even. A powerful, titled wizard living in a tower, just close enough to a town to be considered its own mage, but far enough to stay secluded and unbothered by the mundane life of the townspeople. It leaves room for an ongoing mystery, a veil of tempting secret that must work wonders for the mage’s reputation. What’s unknown is always alluring, Jaebum thinks. And the wizard surely knows that.

If he’s one of the youngest professors of Oxenfurt, he has to be sly; talented, of course, and annoyingly smart, but sly, too. Jaebum can already feel a selfish regret gnaw at his bones - he just wrote himself up for a close encounter with a titled asshole. The word sorcerer should be enough of a turn-off for him, really. He’s met sorcerers already, had to work with them or  _ for _ them, even. Most of them were assholes, from afar and from up close, regardless of how many titles they had and how much power they held.

He might be a bit too harsh, judging Jinyoung like that without meeting him in person. Truth to be told, though, Jaebum can’t remember more than one mage that wasn’t falling into that stereotype. Minhyuk, a wizard he met a few years back, was truly an exception: youthful, caring and funny without the sarcastic bite or the cynic undertone of how most mages joke. And, if Jaebum has to be honest, he was a great lay, too. That surely made a huge impact on how he remembers that certain wizard now.

Tuning back into the conversation at the table, the witcher notices how Yugyeom’s tall silhouette slouches, sleepiness obvious in how incoherent his sentences have become. Youngjae is as lively as ever, nudging his brother from time to time to wake him up.

Jaebum feels someone’s eyes on him. It’s Sunmi.

“I think our travelers should get some well deserved rest,” she says, her eyes not leaving Jaebum’s. “You do have rooms to stay in, am I right?”

“We took care of it,” Youngjae smiles at her, even though the question wasn’t thrown at him.

“Yes,” Yugyeom slurs. “We have a room…! And Jaebum and Jiaer have one, too!”

The older brother lays the keys on the tabletop then, sliding one of them in Jiaer’s direction. The acrobat takes it with a wink, then puts it in a pocket of Jaebum’s jacket. He pats it afterwards, grinning at the witcher.

And the night is wrapped up with that.

 

Once upstairs, Yugyeom and Youngjae leave in an opposite direction, entering one of the closest rooms. The doors close behind them with a thud; Yugyeom lacks subtlety when intoxicated.

The elves are walking Jaebum and Jiaer to their own room.

“Can I ask you two one more question?” Jaebum says to Yien and Sunmi, lets Jiaer retreat the key from his pocket and watches the acrobat fumbling with it at the door.

Sunmi looks back at the witcher. “I’ll help Jiaer to the room,” she says, lending the acrobat a steady arm to hold on to. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

The witcher nods and watches in amusement as the elven girl leads his buff friend as if he weighed nothing.

“What is it, Jaebum?” Yien addresses him after a short while. His voice is quiet, as though unsure. The effortless confidence in the elf’s posture doesn’t really match that impression.

Jaebum cuts right to his point.

“The wizard. Where exactly does he live, again? It’s a lighthouse on the south side?”

“Yes, that’s the one. The easiest way to get there is to use the southern gate. It’s right next to the non-human district and leads straight to the lighthouse. You may have seen it when you were on your way to Erinden, I suppose.”

“I think I did,” Jaebum lies. He didn’t notice any weirdly tower-like lighthouses back on the main road.

He thinks about everything he’s already gathered about the wizard.

“Any other clues on what I should expect there? When I meet the wizard?” He asks Yien, voice hushed, lowered. The walls of the corridor seem to be closing in on them, dark and grim.

The elf furrows his brows slightly, looking at the witcher and pondering on his answer.

“I feel like you may have a certain image of him all set and ready in your head,” he finally says.

The doors to Jaebum and Jiaer’s room open then and Sunmi comes out, closing them carefully behind herself. She smiles at Yien and Jaebum as she links her elbow with Yien’s. The witcher’s eyes travel to glance at the interaction and it must give him out, because then they’re saying, “We’re cousins,” in unison.

Jaebum sighs a small  _ oh  _ and nods in acknowledgment.

“Well,” he clears his throat, setting his eyes on Yien’s face once again. “What do you mean, I have a certain image of the wizard?”

“We all make assumptions,” the elven boy replies with a knowing smirk. “And I can sense that you’ve already made yours. But, for starters… Jinyoung doesn’t  _ look  _ like most sorcerers do. Especially the human ones.”

At that, Jaebum scoffs openly, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms on his chest. “And why would  _ that  _ be of any importance?”

The elves, instead of answering him, look at each other with amusement prominent on their features. It annoys the witcher to no end, but he keeps his nonchalant attitude.

“You’re right, of course,” Sunmi says to him kindly, but the mischievous spark in her eyes is unmistakable. “I believe what my cousin tried to say is… Don’t expect anything. Keep your mind open.”

“I always do,” the witcher groans. Has he just been scolded by someone he barely met? It seems like that’s the case.

“No doubt you do,” Yien replies sweetly and Jaebum opens his mouth to retort something of less sweetness, but Sunmi beats him to it.

“We’ll go now,” she announces, tugging at her cousin’s arm where they’re linked. “Drop Jiaer by our house on your way to the lighthouse, it’s on the main street of the non-human district. And don’t forget to be nice to our wizard, Jinyoung can be really grumpy in the mornings.”

The witcher’s eyebrows shoot upwards at the statement. Yien looks at Sunmi in shock, then laughs out loud, oddly boyish and carefree for a collected elf. Jaebum opens his mouth to ask why Sunmi knows such details, but the elves are already heading towards the staircase, backs turned to him and whispers exchanged between them.

The corridor feels even more unwelcoming when you’re left alone there. Jaebum turns on his heels and enters his bedroom for the night.

Jiaer is already laying down on a narrow mattress, his good leg hanging off its side a little. He’s swinging it, eyes unfocused as he chews on a straw. He must have found it in the room. 

“Heard you talking there,” he speaks up when Jaebum is halfway undressed, hands reaching to a small bowl of water. He hunches a bit as he splashes the water on his face.

“They told me where they live,” the witcher explains. His hands wander to his hair, pushing it back. Loose black strands fall onto his forehead anyway. “And where exactly is the lighthouse that we’re interested in.”

Jiaer hums, nods silently. He always gets quiet after nights out, and Jaebum is sure today exhausted him more than he’d like to admit.

The witcher stands in silence for a while longer, watches simple patterns inside the bowl, distorted under the water.

“That wizard. Jinyoung,” he says suddenly. “He’ll know what attacked us.”

The acrobat wriggles on his bed, props himself on his elbows. “How come?”

“He’s here to hunt down an ancient creature,” Jaebum murmurs. He dries his hands on his pants, runs them through his hair afterwards. Jiaer watches him silently from his bed. “Yien said something about the wizard being busy  _ after today.  _ It adds up, Jiaer. He’s after whatever attacked us. But, the elves— why would the elves know about today? We kept the whole incident a secret.”

The acrobat groans, lays down on his back. It takes him a moment to adjust comfortably.

“Why do they know that wizard so well, anyway?” Jiaer shrugs, looking at the ceiling now. “And, more importantly… What are they so gorgeous for?”

It’s Jaebum’s turn to groan. Jiaer laughs shortly, delighted by the response he got.

“Honestly,” he speaks up again when Jaebum is also laying on his back, mattress creaking underneath him as he fidgets. “I know you’re a bit spooked now, but let’s just trust them. What else could we do, really?”

Jaebum waves his hand mindlessly at the candle next to his bed. The flame burns out instantly, room immediately falling into darkness. The moonlight that seeps through the small window is barely enough for the witcher’s eyes and he distantly thinks of how dark it must be for his human friend.

“I’ll ask the innkeeper in the morning,” Jaebum says quietly after a moment. “To check if the mage is really what they assured us he is. And then we’ll go get you some real medical treatment.”

“Great plan, Jaebum,” Jiaer is smiling, Jaebum can tell without looking at him. “To sum up: I’m having a threesome and you’ll suck a magical dick.”

“That was your worst joke of today.”

“It wasn’t a joke! What makes you say that?!”

“They’re cousins. I doubt they’d welcome you in their beds together.”

“...Okay, that’s a point. What about the dick sucking? ...Jaebum? Jaebum?!”

The witcher chuckles, turning his back to Jiaer as he lays on his side. “Just go to sleep, Jiaer.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fear not, the next chapter is a one big jjp interaction.
> 
> And before that: leave me some feedback because uhh I really need it lol
> 
> Much love,  
> Alka


	4. Three Jackdaws, pt. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems like I got my writing spirit back. We're celebrating it with: first jjp chapter of this story lol enjoy!!!

 

IV.

“Thanks for carrying him here,” Sunmi says, already getting busy with Jiaer’s bandages. “However, I’d highly recommend taking a bath before coming here — or to Jinyoung.”

Yien snickers somewhere in the corridor. Jaebum frowns, his hand unconsciously raising to run through his hair. It’s definitely _ a bit _ greasy.

“Just a hint,” the elven girl says, gracing Jaebum with a mischievous smile.

Jiaer catches his gaze and shrugs, lips pressed together in an innocent smile, his eyes big and round, like a kid’s.

The witcher huffs, turns and leaves without a word.

 

He ends up going back to Three Jackdaws and ordering a bail of water and some soap to scrub himself clean in his room.

 

Nora neighs in surprise as she sniffs him, obnoxious as ever. He curses at her quietly.

It’s still before noon when he arrives to the lighthouse. Just like Sunmi said, the building doesn’t look very… lighthouse-like. It’s more squat than regular lighthouses, with visibly thicker walls and narrow, but tall windows scattered in random places.

It’s situated on a far end of the highest cliff, a lonely, drear figure. Its stony walls, although seemingly completely dull and grey, have a blue tint to them; a color of stormy clouds.

The sky, surprisingly, is clear today — no trace of the thunderous clouds that took it over yesterday. It’s hellishly windy, though. Nora struggles through the last part of their short trek, ears leaning closer to her head as the wind blows harder from every direction.

The witcher ties his horse to one of the two posts that are clearly left near the lighthouse for that purpose alone. Nora seems calm enough despite the loud crashing of waves down the cliff. Jaebum pets her neck before heading to the closed door.

He’s greeted by a _teenage_ _boy_ — definitely not the mage, he concludes immediately, but not before almost having a heart attack upon remembering Yien’s warnings. The boy turns out to be the wizard’s unofficial _butler_. He runs up the stairs and doesn’t emerge for another few minutes. It feels like hours, every second worrying and annoying Jaebum that much further.

Then, the boy’s back, telling him that the wizard is in his quarters and allowed the witcher to disrupt his day— a direct quote, according to the butler’s words. Jaebum wants to laugh at the absurdity, but he opts for giving the boy a small coin for his fatigue. He heads up the stairs.

The first storey has its staircase stone, matching the cold interior perfectly; Jaebum notices a bed, a drawer and a few other necessities, most probably gifted for the butler to use. There’s another room farther inside. The witcher peeps a row of drying herbs there — so it’s a storage room, maybe.

As Jaebum enters the second floor, he’s met with a closed door. Following the boy’s advice, he knocks and opens it right after, coming in.

“Hello?” He calls out and shuts the door behind him.

The room is spacious, divided only by tall rows of bookshelves. Thick volumes lay on them in a seemingly perfect order, but the witcher notices soon how untrue that is. Books are scattered on the less filled shelves, lay in messy piles next to ones that don’t have much space left. A massive, dark desk is placed in front of the door, with a huge map of Redania hung on the wall above it. The surface of the desk is just as messy; various papers and volumes laid upon each other, with a dirty inkstand in the middle of it all.

The room’s a bit stuffy, the smell of dust prominent in the air. Underneath it, the witcher senses something more. Something sweet, and yet still refreshing. He can’t place it.

Jaebum clears his throat, but there’s no answer coming. He takes a few tentative steps, looking around cautiously. There’s no one between the aisles, too.

He finds another staircase, though. That one’s wooden, new. It doesn’t creak under his feet.

He stands in front of another door, listening carefully. He  _ thinks _ he can hear shuffling inside— thus, he knocks.

The answer is slightly delayed. “Come in!”

Deep voice, he notes for starters and pushes the door open. The asshole has a deep voice.

The first thing he sees is a bookshelf, situated there with an obvious purpose of shielding newcomers from seeing what’s inside the room. Jaebum rounds the corner slowly, door clicking behind him.

The smell from before intensifies and the witcher finally puts a name on it; it’s gooseberries and lilacs.

He doesn’t catch much of the interior before the man in front of him steals all his attention. He notices another drawer, way sturdier and capacious than the one he saw downstairs; an impressively big bail; and a huge bed, impossible to omit due to its king size. That isn’t surprising by any means; sorcerers love luxury, strongly believing that that’s what they deserve. A heavy looking, forest green blanket lays on top of the bed. Jaebum barely even registers the silver linings of it, turning his head to look straight ahead again.

Yien was right about at least one thing, Jaebum thinks when his eyes focus on the stranger in front of him. The wizard steps away from his desk and walks to its front, as if he knew the witcher is drinking the sight in front of him.

Jinyoung doesn’t  _ look _ like an average mage, not really.

While most sorceresses tend to keep their appearance youthful and pretty, sorcerers usually prefer more mature and subdued looks on themselves. Because of that stereotype, Jaebum expected to see a man in his mid-forties, one that is probably way older than that, who both looks and acts like a freshly crowned king. Jinyoung, though— he looks thirty at best, young and undeniably attractive, with his pale skin clear from imperfections and his black hair swept to the back almost nonchalantly. His hair, Jaebum notes for some reason, must be naturally wavy — it’s impossible for it to be this full in volume and curling into tighter locks around his face just because of the humid air at the seaside.

That youthful image is just… unexpected. And it’s none of Jaebum’s business, but it does spark a bit of curiosity in him, anyway. Perhaps the wizard is younger than Jaebum initially thought he is. That wouldn’t sit well with what he heard about him, though; you don’t graduate from a school of magic and go straight to Oxenfurt to give lectures, only to throw it aside mere couple of years later and move to a lighthouse near a small town. It simply doesn’t work like that. He has to be way older than what he looks like, has to have more history left behind him.

Yet, there he is, with his skin so glowy and healthy that Jaebum is sure it has to be another magic trick. There’s the slightest, most subtle trace of eye wrinkles that Jaebum notices after a quiet second of staring. It gives the mage's eyes a cat-like look.

“Good morning,” the witcher begins with an embarrassing delay. “And thank you for agreeing to see me.”

Official greetings always fall flat and unnatural. This one’s no exception.

The mage looks unimpressed, borderline bored. His face is still annoyingly handsome, though.

“That’s my work, how could I  _ not _ agree. I’m sure you understand,” Jinyoung sighs, purses his plump lips. Jaebum thankfully catches himself before his eyes stay focused on the pout for too long. “We can’t really choose with  _ who  _ or  _ what  _ we will work with in our professions, right, witcher?”

Jaebum’s eyebrows raises. Jinyoung’s an eye candy, although one that seems icy and hard to swallow, and his attitude seems to make up for the ugliness that his body is lacking.

That’s the thing about mages. They are assholes.  _ All  _ of them.

Jaebum’s been called an asshole more times than he can count, so that might be a hypocritical thought. On the other hand, you could say he knows his kind when he meets it. 

He clears his throat, doesn’t respond out of courtesy. Jinyoung’s lips quirk in a repressed smirk.

“Now, don’t take offense so easily. That salty seaside air and hours of solitude makes me more… snappish,” the wizard says as though it justifies his previous jab. He leans back on his desk slightly, crosses his arms on his chest. He’s wearing a simple, off-white shirt tucked neatly into a pair of navy trousers. “Let’s start again. What’s your name, witcher?”

“Jaebum.”

“And you’re here, because…?”

“I need your help,” Jaebum decides he can be a bit annoying, too. However childish and useless that is.

“Obviously,” Jinyoung scoffs when Jaebum doesn’t follow his words with anything more. “Witcher, your thoughts are being loud, but I won’t go out of my way to search for an elaboration there myself. So please elaborate on your own.”

Definitely an arrogant asshole, Jaebum concludes.

It’s his friend’s health and future at stake, though. He should shut up, get it over with and, if luck is on his side, never have to ask this particular mage for a favor again.

“I’m not the one needing your help, per se,” he says and Jinyoung’s already looking suspicious. “It’s my friend, his condition isn’t the best—“

“I’m not a medic,” Jinyoung interrupts him, chin raised slightly. Jaebum wants to knock something onto his face.

“I know you’re not a medic,” he agrees smoothly, maybe with too much volume as it makes Jinyoung’s lips form a thin, displeased line. “But the damage is too severe to be treated and get better quickly enough without magic involved. Jiaer is an acrobat, you may have heard about the circus staying in the town this week. He’s with them.”

The mage frowns slightly, but there’s an odd sense of curiosity to his features, too. “And why would a witcher go so far as to come here and ask for my help, play a messenger role for an acrobat that, let me guess, twisted his ankle right before a show? He got drunk with the rest of his circus and slipped in a tavern, didn’t he? Unfortunate.”

Jaebum likes those cat-like eyes, but he despises how they squint in cruel mischief when Jinyoung speaks.

“You guessed wrong,” he replies coolly, also crossing his arms on his chest. It’s certainly buffer than Jinyoung’s. The mage, for some unknown reason, follows the movement with his eyes and Jaebum’s suddenly reminded of the same way the elves ogled Jiaer.

Jinyoung’s gaze wanders briefly on Jaebum’s arms before he speaks up.

“Enlighten me, then.”

“The circumstances were far more unconventional,” Jaebum begins and makes a pause, wants to make Jinyoung wait. The mage doesn’t give him the pleasure of seeing any traces of impatience in his stance. “And you may find them quite intriguing, given the main reason I heard you’re staying here for.”

And that, as Jaebum predicted, makes Jinyoung’s eyes more alert, his whole body straightening lightly.

“What happened?” He prompts.

“We went off the main road and found some ruins in the woods. There was nothing too much out of ordinary in them, but then we found a… glass bottle” Jaebum explains and watches how Jinyoung’s face clears from the previous arrogance and harshness, gives room for a professional, serious expression that looks way more…  _ friendly  _ on him. “It got shattered. And, oddly as it sounds, a creature, a magical creature, got out of it and attacked us.”

“What creature? How did it look like?” Jinyoung’s interest is undeniable and the witcher almost wants to laugh at the change in the wizard’s attitude. “What kind of damage did it bring to you and what happened to it? Did you…  _ harm _ it?”

It’s really funny how eager and childlike in his haste the mage sounds now, Jaebum thinks. It’ll be even more entertaining when the witcher mentions the official name of the creature. He can’t help but smile knowingly, patronizingly even. 

Jinyoung notices it, of course. His features harden in an instant, eyes boring holes in Jaebum’s skull in a stupid, completely unnecessary staring contest. Jaebum looks away first, ignoring his pride and the content little smile on Jinyoung’s lips.

He’s doing it for Jiaer, he has to behave.

“Due to my profession,”  _ which you so kindly pointed out already, _ he leaves unsaid, but still audible, judging by the quirk in Jinyoung’s eyebrows. “I’d say it…  _ might  _ be what you’re looking for. A marid, water genie. It didn’t look nor acted like any other species I’ve encountered.”

“Oh, and I believe you’ve encountered a number of them, yes,” the mage supplies, waving his hand to hurry the witcher. His fingers are long and slim, of someone who spends his work hours using a fountain pen and nothing sharper or heavier than that. “Continue.”

Jaebum wants to tell him off for interrupting just to tell him to keep talking, but bites his tongue. It’s a wizard he’s working with here, he has to be lenient.

“It didn’t have a defined form that could be harmed in a meaning known to us, rather had a very dense, small core with tones of mist around it. The mist was forming shapes similar to humanoids, at least when it wasn’t moving chaotically. The marid - I’ll just refer to it as such - grabbed my friend’s leg, twisted it and—”

“The mist,” Jinyoung cuts shamelessly into the middle of Jaebum’s sentence. “It was capable of making contact with a human? But  _ you  _ couldn’t make contact with it?”

Jaebum grits his teeth. “I could,” he corrects the mage. “But not as easily. As I said, the core of the monster wasn’t very accessible. Reaching it with a sword was hard enough, and then the marid used something akin to an energy blast. It felt—”

“Like pure magic,” Jinyoung interrupts him once again, this time speaking more to himself than to Jaebum. He’s looking outside the window on his left, gnawing on his lower lip.

Jaebum doesn’t speak up until he’s prompted by another hand gesture, this time more courteous.

“It - the marid - was powerful. When I didn’t have my sword at hand, I used one of the witcher signs, Igni. Thought it should work since fire is the opposite element to water and the monster was practically made out of it.”

“Did it work?”

“Surprisingly well, yes. The monster was clearly in distress afterwards. My sword went right through the space between what looked like its main body and its head, but it only made the mist reshape. And then… Then, the marid ran away.”

The mage blinks at Jaebum, once, twice. His face foretells Jaebum everything that he’s going to hear in a second. Everything that he’s anticipated to hear since last night’s revelations.

“It just ran away?” Jinyoung repeats, voice louder than the witcher thought it would be. “You found a fucking marid and just let it  _ run away _ ?”

“It  _ attacked  _ us. My friend was injured and needs your help, if you need to be reminded.”

“Do you even know where it went?”

Jaebum has no idea nor does he really care at the moment, so he stays silent, quietly watching a kaleidoscope of feelings cross Jinyoung’s face before he settles for an arrogant  _ and  _ annoyed mask.

Then, the mage pushes himself off the desk and steps forward, slowly, with quiet, calculated movements. If Jaebum’s witcher school didn’t teach him better, he’d feel like a wild cat’s prey now, entrapped by both actual power and intimidation oozing from the wizard in waves.

But he knows his own power, knows how intimidating  _ he  _ could be. He doesn’t back away, watches Jinyoung steadily as he comes to a stop a few small steps in front of him. With this little distance between them it’s easy to tell that they’re the same height. Jaebum’s slightly taller  _ now  _ — his boots have a chunkier sole and heel.

“I’ve tried to catch at least a glimpse of that marid for several months now,” Jinyoung says, quiet, as though he’s preparing to threaten the witcher. Jaebum doesn’t bat an eyelash, stays unmoved even as Jinyoung takes another step forward. “Only to hear that a witcher, accompanied by an  _ acrobat, _ fortuitously meets and scares my genie away. And then has the audacity to announce me all of this and ask for help.”

“You’re wrong only in one place,” Jaebum says, locking his eyes on Jinyoung’s angry stare. “I didn’t  _ scare your genie away. _ I’m sure it’ll be back sooner or later.”

“That’s a hypothesis posed with real confidence. Why?” Jinyoung has to look up just slightly to make up for the height difference. It doesn’t take away from how authoritative his aura is. “Why would the genie be back, witcher?”

And from this proximity, as Jinyoung steps far into his comfort zone, the previous smell of lilacs and gooseberries hits him, sweet and intoxicating, heady almost. Looking into the dark, angered eyes of the wizard, Jaebum realizes that no, they aren’t black, like he assumed without putting much thought into it. There’s a subtle purple hue to those irises— or maybe it’s navy?

It’s so hard to pin down. It’s a shade of the night sky when the moon is full and the sunshine hasn’t subsided completely yet. And Jaebum, although reluctant to admit it, thinks it’s beautiful.

The wizard searches his face for an answer as Jaebum’s silence is getting prolonged, heavier. The witcher snaps out of it, gathers his thoughts quickly, chastising himself for getting caught up in something he shouldn’t even notice.

“You should investigate those ruins,” he says at last. He doesn’t mention the glass bottle again nor does he speak up about the sigil he found and took with him. “If the marid took a liking to them, it must have been for a reason.”

Jinyoung scoffs, looks away. It’s his turn to be silent now. There’s clearly a lot on his mind.

The sounds of the sea outside the lighthouse soothe the sharpness of the mage’s eyes when he looks back at the witcher.

“I can only hope that there’s something to that logic. Meanwhile, I’d like to see that friend of yours. His injuries may tell me something I do not know yet.”

Jaebum scowls, can’t help it when the man in front of him holds so tightly onto his stone-cold mask. But then,

“Are you going to help him, though?” Jaebum asks, untrusting of the wizard’s motives and plans.

Jinyoung, despite Jaebum’s judgement, looks genuinely offended by the question.

“Do you really think that I’d oversee the fact that he needs help and that you asked me for it?” He challenges, voice louder again. Jaebum doesn’t respond. “Your accusations are unfair. As you know, I’m here to help the townsfolk and the guests of the town, so to imply that I’d refuse to help anyone who’s in need is simply rude.”

Jaebum knows the wizard is there to study the case of a water genie and had to find a way to stay in the area in order to achieve his goal, but he doesn’t say it aloud. He also doesn’t say aloud that his first reaction to the news about Jiaer’s injury was quite… unwelcoming. Jaebum doesn't bite back mostly because he shouldn’t take his chances if he wants Jiaer to be treated well, but also…

Jinyoung looks upset, although he conceals it well with another layer of arrogance. Jaebum managed to open a wound or create a new one, it seems. And, although there’s no point in being overly nice to this snappish man, Jaebum decides he simply doesn't want to thrust the knife deeper.

Those dark, night sky-like eyes wander to the side, then run away completely as the mage steps back and moves to retreat to his desk.

“Is your acrobatic friend capable of getting here on his own? I suppose not, am I right?”

Jaebum hums an affirmative.

“Then I’ll meet him in two or three hours,” Jinyoung says as he leans back on his desk again. Jaebum doesn’t want to notice how the hardwood pushes into the mage’s bottom and how easily his body gives in, melts under pressure to accommodate to the shape. But he does notice. “Where is he staying?”

“A guesthouse near the main square, called Three Jackdaws.”

Jinyoung nods once. “I know which one is that. Are you staying there, too?”

That catches Jaebum off-guard.

“How is that relevant?”

The mage chuckles. It’s deep, short, but still manages to get to Jaebum’s stomach and hold it in a vice grip, only to release it and let it somersault.

“It isn’t at all, of course. I’m just making small talk.”

How kind of you, Jaebum wants to snort. The small smile still playing in the corners of the wizard’s lips prevents him from it.

Instead, he asks, “How much will it cost? Jiaer’s treatment, that is?”

“Let’s say the circumstances gave him that much of a benefit,” Jinyoung answers immediately. “I don’t want your money. The truth is, you’ve given me more clues than this whole town has for the last three months. Your friend’s state may give me some more insight, too.”

He didn’t see that coming, if he has to be honest. But,

“That’s…” Jaebum trails off, searches for a word under Jinyoung’s curious gaze. He realizes that his previous asshole-like attitude is mostly gone for now. Jaebum doesn’t miss it in the slightest, although he also doesn’t understand the change or the source of it. He doesn’t indulge in wondering about it. “That’s kind of you. Thank you.”

Jinyoung gives him a polite, small smile and looks outside the window.

It’s quiet now, for a short bit. Jaebum takes in Jinyoung’s profile, how the light caresses his face gently, softens his features. It’s too easy to get caught in this image.

Maybe that’s what the wizard shows to the townsfolk. Jaebum could believe that this sight and attitude is worthy of love of many.

“I can’t go to the ruins today due to other obligations,” Jinyoung murmurs and it doesn’t sound like a  _ business  _ small talk. Jaebum realises he doesn’t mind that change either, however sudden it is. “I have to postpone it to tomorrow morning.”

There’s a nagging thought in the witcher’s head, his curiosity spiked now that he doesn’t have to worry about his friend’s health, and that his guilt subsides. It makes him open his mouth to stutter,

“I—” but he hesitates. He started talking before he thought his idea through anyhow.

Jinyoung is watching him now, his eyes tranquil unlike the sea that day.

Jaebum makes up his mind.

“I’ll go with you. To the ruins.”

But it might be the wrong decision, Jaebum thinks as he sees Jinyoung’s reaction. The mage’s posture straightens, his expression changes to a more closed one again.

“I do not need a bodyguard, Jaebum,” he states, loud and clear. It’s the first time he used the witcher’s name. 

“With all due respect,” Jaebum says with what he momentarily fears is too much sarcasm, but the look of amusement that passes Jinyoung’s face then is weirdly rewarding. It cracks the stone-cold mask that reappeared so quickly. “But if the marid is there again, you’ll surely need assistance, especially from someone who’s already fought with it. But the truth is: I’m curious about it, too. It’s the first time I’ve encountered this kind of species.”

Jinyoung seems to take his reasoning in consideration. He’s silent for a longer while, regarding Jaebum with distant, thoughtful eyes.

“It’s your choice,” he finally says, locking his gaze with Jaebum. “If you want to tag along, I won’t stop you.” He breaks the eye contact and turns his back to Jaebum, busing himself with books scattered messily on the desk. “Now, I have work to finish, witcher. You’re dismissed.”

Jaebum freezes for a second. 

Jinyoung’s last sentence sounds weirdly as though the mage was...  _ teasing  _ him. In a friendly manner. It seems absurd, but Jaebum recognizes friendly jabs when he hears them. It’s undeniably confusing, but—

The witcher scoffs, genuinely amused.

“See you in the guesthouse,” he throws over his shoulder as he walks himself to the door.

When he looks back one last time, he swears he can see a small, bashful smile desperately trying to stay hidden behind Jinyoung’s hand. And  _ that, _ after all that has been said and done between them, leaves Jaebum the most confused.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are, jjp finally fully introduced and ready for more action. Leave me your thoughts on Jinyoung and on their first interaction in the comments! 
> 
> and btw - my boo and beta of this story, Meg, has recently finished their jjp fic, so if you're enjoying witcher au, you should check [Freefall](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15211952/chapters/35280530), too <3
> 
> xoxo  
> Alka

**Author's Note:**

> [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/7shinees), [twitter](https://twitter.com/7shinees) & [tumblr](http://7shinees.tumblr.com/) for anyone who’d like to interact with me outside ao3 :^)


End file.
